BestDoc, an end-to-end patient experience and engagement solutions provider for healthcare providers in India and the Middle East is bringing about a revolution in the healthcare industry. To understand about the medical industry and its needs, we spoke to Co-Founder and CEO, Mr. Afsal Salu.
Can you tell us how has the journey of BestDoc been till date?
When we initially began BestDoc in 2017, we had planned on creating a marketplace to help patients in tier 2 and tier 3 cities make doctor appointments. But as we started working our way around the platform, we realised the gap in healthcare when it came to patient experience management. Today, when patients go to hospitals, they expect a smooth and satisfactory experience. Right from the faculty to the facilities. Therefore, to bridge this gap, we transformed our model to B2B solutions for hospitals in 2018.
According to studies, 65% of patient complaints are non-clinical in nature. We realised that most existing solutions focused primarily on helping doctors and healthcare administrators, ignoring patients completely. BestDoc became an intelligent patient relationship management company, striving to offer a seamless experience to patients as well as the healthcare administrative staff by using advanced technology and data.
Our range of patient experience and engagement technology solutions support smooth user experiences across all phases of the patient journey, right till discharge from the hospital. Thus far, the company has provided end-to-end patient experience and engagement solutions to around 4 million patients. BestDoc’s solutions are deployed in over 250 Hospitals and Clinics across India and the Middle East.
In 2021, BestDoc’s patient self-service kiosks won the NASSCOM HIC award for OPD automation. In 2022, the company emerged as a runner-up in NASSCOM’s healthcare innovation challenge in the comprehensive care/OPD automation category. We have recently also won the Innov8 Award at Global Health 2022 in Saudi Arabia. , coming up top amongst multiple competitors from around the globe
What were the challenges you identified faced by hospitals and how is BestDoc helping solve them
As I hail from a family of healthcare professionals, I have seen firsthand the challenges faced by patients and healthcare administrators. Over the years, while we have seen a huge advancement in healthcare, there are some key aspects which have still not been addressed. One of these aspects is the management of patient experience. As the world began to adopt more digital solutions, we found a gap in the adoption of technology by hospitals.
We had spotted an opportunity in the market – a fragmented patient experience in hospitals. It was a two-fold challenge:
- 65% of patients complained about non-clinical issues
- Most existing solutions focused primarily on helping doctors and healthcare administrators, ignoring patients completely. Healthcare providers were starting to realize that patients’ journey extends beyond the walls of hospitals and clinics
BestDoc was created as a solution to the above challenges and provide hospitals with technology for a smooth operating system.
Can you give us some numbers on how many hospitals we have on board and how many are we aiming for by the end of the year?
Over 250 hospitals across India and the Middle East use our patient experience technology solutions , which have touched the lives of over 4 million patients. Our solutions are used by the biggest names in healthcare, including national leaders like Narayana Health and Aster DM Healthcare. In India, we have several regional leaders as our customers in Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi. In the Middle East, we have reputed JCI hospitals like the Emirates International Hospital as our customers. By the end of this financial year, we aim to have 350 hospitals on board.
What are your growth and expansion plans?
BestDoc plans to continue growing and expanding its business by continuing to offer innovative solutions to our customers. The goal is to sign on 1,000 + hospitals across India, Middle East and SouthEast Asia over the next 3 years. We also see the growth potential for our solutions such as hospitality where we have seen some interest from international markets like the Middle East.
The global customer experience management solutions market is expected to be worth $32.5 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 16%. We hope to capture a sizeable share of this market with our current and upcoming solutions.
What are your thoughts on healthcare AI and how it can be useful from the grassroots and up?
AI and its role in medicine is a burning reality. Modern health tech companies enable everything from consultations to treatment for terminal illnesses. To improve efficiency and make the patient experience as painless as possible, healthcare tech is being implemented everywhere from administrative processes to diagnosis. Keeping up with the latest healthcare technology trends is vital as healthcare technology evolves.
How BestDoc is benefiting hospitals and helping them manage patient experience?
At BestDoc, we provide SaaS-based solutions to simplify and ease operational aspects of healthcare management. Through the use of our products, hospitals have received and worked on improving their systems. Our solutions create a memorable patient experience by collecting and dealing with patient feedback (both inpatient and outpatient). Our solutions also help in creating better experiences for admitted patients and their visitors by streamlining their routine non-clinical requests. Providing patients with the ability to give feedback has helped hospitals understand areas where they lag and how they can manage requests better. The use of technology for managing inpatient care also helps in optimising staff costs for various departments such as housekeeping, maintenance and IT. Healthcare providers can track the productivity of their staff and reward top-performing staff. They can also use analytics to make smart staffing decisions and allocate non-clinical resources as per need. Our solutions also help in addressing traditional pain points of providers and patients such as long and tedious patient discharge processes.
How are healthtech platforms driving transformation of the healthcare industry?
The healthcare industry has long needed technological advancements. With the introduction of healthtech platforms, the healthcare system can work more efficiently as manual work of entries and data reduces and resources can be allocated in a way to manage the facilities better. Healthcare providers can deliver more effective and personalized care by integrating various digital transformation technologies.
Healthcare is patient-centered, so technological development and adoption is essential for improving patient satisfaction. In the coming years, various healthcare administration processes will be automated and streamlined through AI and machine learning (ML). The use of these intelligent technologies could transform patient care in a number of ways. Tech-infused tools are being integrated into every step of our healthcare experience to counteract two key trouble spots: quality and efficiency. Healthtech companies have revolutionised the way we approach healthcare. From a time when it was difficult to imagine the application of artificial intelligence in the health sector, today it is a reality that we live in. Healthtech companies are surely treading their way forward.
