India Digital Health Report 2017

Overview:

•   Digital Healthcare is the ‘healthcare of the future’. Like many other markets, India too is at the cusp of a ‘digital health’ revolution. The time is ripe for healthcare companies to embrace innovation and emerging trends to successfully steer new age technologically driven business strategies by capturing consumer interest.
•   The India Digital Health Report 2017 has surveyed Digital and Online presence of 160 healthcare firms in India, covering Pharmaceuticals, Medical devices & Equipment, Diagnostics and Hospitals. With this we aimed to capture digital integration required at all steps of a patient’s journey, from lookout for symptomatic information, HCP interaction, diagnosis, treatment and follow ups. The report has surveyed digital presence across 12 key parameters.
•   In the first edition of The Indian Pharma Digital Health Report 2015, we have strived to map out the ‘Digital Health’ of Pharmaceuticals Industry. Now in its second edition the report has expanded both in sample size volume as well as industry expanse.

Market Trends:

•   Healthcare in India is growing at a rapid pace, currently valued at US$ 100 billion, and expected to touch US$ 280 billion by 2020.
•   Digital intervention in healthcare is expected to drive the industry at a CAGR of 23% by 2020.
•   Between public and private healthcare, India triumphs in terms of affordability, and carries a competitive advantage due to its large poolof trained medical professionals.

Investments & Government Initiatives:

•   The Indian healthcare industry has been witnessing some stupendous growth in terms of investments.
•   Private equity and venture capital funding in healthcare sector has gone up by 13 times, from US$ 94 million in 2011 to US$1,275 in 2016.
•   Increase in overall health budget, where healthcare has been allocated 2.27% of the total budget, against the 1.97% previously.
•   Other important initiatives include:
     •  Landmark agreements and reforms at the state level
     •  E-health initiative
     •  Ministry of AYUSH
     •  Sehat (Social Endeavour for Health and Telemedicine) among others.

Research Methodology: The sheer vastness and complexities of the digital world usually result in hugely varying performance levels for different companies. To keep the report findings precise and useful, we’ve adopted a quantitative research analysis method to gauge the digital health status of companies.

H- Pointer: Different parameters have been set for each digital platform. These parameters have been assigned certain weightage quantified as ‘H’ points. The companies are then divided into three cohorts as per the total number of ‘H’ points scored.

The Three Buckets:
•  Digital Primes (50H+):They are the torch-bearers, leading the ‘digital’ way. These are companies that maintain good presence across various digitalplatforms and are driving engagement while milking relevantconversations online.
•  Digital Aspirants (20-25H): They are companies that are gradually moving up the ‘digitalhealth’ curve and maintain a decent presence across differentonline platforms. These are keen observers and quick-learnerswith consistently improving engagement levels.
•  Digital Onlookers (<20H): They are your silent observers, biting their time, pondering over the thought of being actively and visibly digital. Limited to official websites (majorly) for now, the ‘onlookers’ is the cohort for companies that are currently planning and prepping for the imminent digitally oriented future.

Key findings:

•  Apollo Diagnostics comes on top with a highest score of 70 H
•  Amongst industry areas Pharmaceuticals lead the way to embrace Digital, with leading number of 14 Primes in its bucket
•  Websites are still the most popular outlet with 100% presence across 160 companies and also most preferred by end consumers
•  LinkedIn enjoys the maximum presence with 91% players having their LinkedIn page, but suffers from low engagement with only 11% companies’ active on LinkedIn
•  After LinkedIn, Facebook is the 2nd most preferred platform with 90% presence rate. Pharma has maximum number of players amongst the 4 categories on Facebook with a presence rate of 86%. However merely 19% accounts from the companies surveyed, actively engage with their audience
•  Twitter is slowly and steadily becoming the favorite and falls under the category of 3rd most preferred platform after LinkedIn and Facebook with a presence rate of 73%. Twitter seems to attract more hospitals as compared to other categories with a presence rate of 29%
•  YouTube is giving a tough competition to Twitter and comes across as the 4th most preferred platform, nearly 70% of the players from all the categories find their presence on YouTube
•  Close to 24% players actively upload videos on YouTube
•  Presence Vs Engagement. While healthcare companies are present on the web across platforms, the level of engagement is very low
•  There is also the habit of initiating and abandoning the platform midway, or selectively utilizing the medium, as and when the need arises
•  With an internet penetration of 35%, Indian Patients and HCPs are Empowering themselves everyday
•  While Hospitals are spending high on paid promotions, end consumer engagements are very low