A connected ecosystem is the need of the hour

Attune Technologies which has developed a cloud-based healthcare platform that interfaces with over 800 medical devices is now raising its second round of funds to the tune of US$15 million for global expansion. The first round funding of US$6 million was mainly used to strengthen the technology platform and building the brand. In an interaction, Arvind kumar Alagarswamy, founding member & CEO, Attune Technology with Ekta Srivastava, healthtechnology.in, elaborates more on cloud based healthcare platform.

1, In your opinion, what role do emerging technologies like Big data play in the current technology adoption for healthcare vertical?

Health care IT enables generation of lots of electronic data; all data combined gives a very insightful real time information on what type and where healthcare need is arising and also helps in preventing epidemics by timely information. The data can also be used for clinical decision support system and preventive healthcare.

2, The public sector is still lagging in terms of technology adoption in India, more so for an essential sector like healthcare and LIS. What do you think should be done to encourage the use of technology in providing better services to low cost healthcare needs?

Around the world, every health care system is struggling with rising costs and uneven quality despite the hard work of well-intentioned, well-trained clinicians. Health care leaders and policy makers have tried countless incremental fixes—attacking fraud, reducing errors, enforcing practice guidelines, making patients better “consumers,” implementing electronic medical records but none have had much impact. In order to provide better services, we as a company aim to provide mutli-tenant architecture, no hardware installation, monthly rental package, training provided and easy to use technology.

3, While Big data is on the forefront of enterprise, do you think that healthcare and LIS can also benefit from it? What is public policy doing to leverage this technology?

We are engaged in project for a major yet rural district in India, managing its entire government healthcare setup. All the PHC’s and CHC’s are connected using Attune’s cloud based HIS. The data generated forms the backbone of effective analysis of the health condition of the entire district and can pinpoint exactly where help needs to be provided. It has been useful in reducing the wide spread of epidemic. The ease of use and simplicity make it easy to adopt and the functionalities and analytical abilities available at a click really offloads the work load of district healthcare professionals. It helps them identify out break of disease/ epidemic using the data that is generated(Almost real time possible)also identify village / areas that need medical support and area specific disease causes are identified.

4, It is one thing to have objectives on a manifesto, another to actually convert them into goals and work towards it. Do you think the government is doing enough to provide better healthcare services to the average Indian?

Govt taking steps in the right direction . the Jan insurance scheme will certainly help in this. Govt is also now actively looking to accept and implement cloud based solution such as ours.This will prove to be beneficial for the entire country especially the remote and rural areas. You will the change and effectiveness of such adoption in the upcoming smart cities pretty soon.

5, Make In India is the new rage. How can healthcare and LIS sector benefit from it?

Medical device manufacturing in india will help in India specific innovations to be adopted. It will also help Indian healthcare software makers to get involved in the design and development phases of such machines to make the integration process much smoother and hopefully on the lines of a plug and play model.

6, How can a PPP be a better alternative to fully owned governmental healthcare schemes? Do you see the PPP initiatives as more efficient at delivery of services?

Definitely an all indian initiative is needed and is not possible without the help and partnership of the govt. They need to incentivise the sector by friendly policies, ease of doing business, and modernizing the infrastructure across the country. A connected ecosystem is the need of the hour which is not possible without the govt’s support. Smart cities concept is entirely based on this (PPP) model and you can see the enthusiasm in India as well as abroad for this initiative. Govt needs to take the industry into confidence and formulate policies and models with a common vision for better and affordable healthcare for every Indian citizen.

7, Telemedicine and wearable devices are the way forward, globally. How do you think India fares there, and what do you think should be done to meet global standards of adaptation?

Telemedicine & wearable device industry is at a nascent stage but staged to grow rapidly in terms of adoption in India. Rural population & doctor to patient ratio will be the main drivers. Better policies and skilled healthcare workers and nurses is the need of the hour. Effective rural healthcare depends on skilled healthcare professionals who can operate and work with such technologies.