Start Ups in Indian Healthcare Industry

Chitra Ramakrishnan

Start ups in any industry have a tendency to show certain predisposition towards some specific areas. In healthcare too, such trends are visible. Networking applications and use of web technologies is popular. Like all service based industries that have adopted computerised or other web-based solutions, the preferred model for delivering service in healthcare also seems to be SaaS (Software as a Service).

Healthcare start ups are going in for SaaS in a big way to facilitate easy adoption and cost-effectiveness. Most notably incubators like Microsoft-IDG are more than willing to provide the necessary technical know-how that spurs the growth and development in this service delivery area. Three prominent healthcare start ups that have adopted this model are HealthHiway.com , Insta health solutions and Ideaobject.

HealthHiway is a platform that brings together Healthcare Providers - Physicians, Practitioners, Pharmacies, Insurance companies, Clinics and Hospitals to build a health data network which facilitates the exchange of information among the participants within the healthcare eco system. It provides a suite of cost-effective solutions and operates on the SaaS model. HealthHiway is an initiative by Apollo Hospitals Group and it has attracted funds to the tune of US $4 Million from GreyLock so far.

Instahealth offers Hospital Management systems and EMR solutions. It has both hosted pricing model for smaller hospitals (SaaS) and licensed pricing model for larger hospitals. It has attracted funding from Inventus Capital Partners and angel funding from Mumbai Angels.

IdeaObject offers a healthcare product for Clinics, Hospitals, Patients, Labs, Opticals and Pharmacies on a licensing basis – the SaaS model. The product facilitates online referrals, e-prescriptions, e-orders, viewing of lab results, discharge summary etc.

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