Interviews

Changing The Healthcare Landscape In India With Augnito

The launch of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (or ABDM) has given a boost to India’s healthcare system as it provides an infrastructure to allow seamless flow of health data among all the various, fragmented healthcare stakeholders by bringing them together under a digital ecosystem. Amongst the many benefits of Digitization of Healthcare, easy availability and access to health data in the form of digital health records is one of the main benefits, and in this interview Mr. Rustom Lawyer, Co-Founder & CEO, Augnito talks about the need for Electronic medical records (EMRs), need of advanced technology and AI in health and how doctors can reap benefits from it.

  1. What according to you are the biggest Health-Tech trends in India currently?

The biggest health tech trends include:

  • Adoption of Electronic Medical Records: Electronic medical records (EMRs) are currently a key focus of the government. With the National Digital Health Mission and unique Health ID, the government aims to make data interoperability a reality.
  • AI and Machine Learning: The use of AI and machine learning will be important in making medical decisions at patient and policy levels. AI will continue to be important going forward, especially with EMRs at the forefront of the health-tech movement in India.

 

  1. Tell us how Augnito can radically change the healthcare landscape in India?

Solutions like Augnito, a medical speech recognition software that enables doctors to speak rather than having to type can be a game-changer for EMR adoption. The time and effort required to record data often take away the relevance of the implementation of EMR. It is here that speech recognition tech can save time and cost and increase revenue for healthcare providers. Augnito recognizes beyond human capability with accurate medical statements as it is and even extracts structured data for health systems, leaving no scope of error. Better patient data enables finer patient care, superior clinical research and quality advancement of healthcare technology.

  1. How matured is the Indian market in adopting Artificial intelligence and Machine learning in the healthcare sector?

It is predicted that the applications of artificial intelligence in the healthcare space will be worth INR 431.97 Bn by 2021, expanding at a rate of 40%.

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the Indian healthcare market significantly. AI-enabled healthcare services like automated analysis of medical tests, predictive healthcare diagnosis, automation of healthcare diagnosis with the help of monitoring equipment, and wearable sensor-based medical devices, are expected to revolutionise the healthcare sector in India.

The capability of AI applications to improve doctors efficiency will help in tackling challenges like uneven doctor-patient ratio and will provide rural populations with high-quality healthcare, and train doctors and nurses to handle advanced medical procedures.

There are several benefits of AI in the healthcare sector such as: for example the patient doctor ratio in India is as low as 1,700:1. Also, 70% of the healthcare infrastructure is in cities, which caters to 30% of the country’s population. With the use of artificial intelligence applications, doctors can offer their services to additional patients and can reduce the existing gap in demand and supply of medical services in the country. AI-enabled healthcare services can be delivered at lower costs with increased efficiency and an emphasis on diagnostics.

  1. Will voice be the future of healthcare? What according to you are the growth and market opportunities?

The global voice technology in healthcare market is estimated to garner a sizable revenue and grow at a CAGR of 21% between 2022 to 2030. Healthcare providers spend a huge amount of time inputting data, updating records and writing up patient notes. This is expected to raise the need for streamlining processes and driving efficiency in the healthcare industry, which in turn is predicted to largely drive market growth. Diagnostics based on Voice Biomarkers will also bolster market growth in the coming years.

  1. Digital health is gaining momentum in the country. How important do you think it is today to have digitized health records?

Digital health refers to the use of information and communications technologies in medicine and helps health professions manage illnesses and health risks and to promote wellness. Digitised medical records will drive the digital health revolution in the country. A seamless flow of information within a digital healthcare infrastructure, created by EMRs and personal healthcare devices such as wearables can transform the way care is delivered. Digitised medical records can lead to improved patient care, involvement of patient participation, upgraded patient diagnosis and care with substantially improved patient outcomes through data analytics.

  1. How has Augnito been able to differentiate from its competitors?

Augnito differentiates from its competitors with its proprietary high quality clinical speech recognition and natural language understanding technology that can accurately transcribe a physician’s voice to text with 99% accuracy out-of-box. It does not require any voice training and is co-designed with physicians to make it extremely intuitive to use. Augnito thrives on continued investment into state of the art R&D and is constantly improving the user experience for its customers.

  1. How do we alleviate the low doctor-patient ratio in India and transform the patient and doctor experience?

Technology can be a huge driver in improving the healthcare available in the country and compensate for the low doctor-patient ratio in India. Digitisation of health records and AI based technology can augment a doctor’s capacity to provide healthcare by saving time required to document cases, providing more accurate understanding of a patient’s history, and preventing clinical errors through algorithms. It can also enable physicians to reach in furthermost corners of the country through telehealth.

  1. Do you think more and more hospitals are now upgrading to a fully digital and paperless functioning, and are embracing the adoption of electronic medical records?

More hospitals are now upgrading to a fully paperless and digital functioning and are embracing the adoption of Electronic Medical Records and the major reason why this is happening, is because hospitals are realizing the potential and ROI on maintaining digitised medical records. EMRs will enable stakeholders to deliver the right treatment at the right time, it will promote practice of analytics-based medical treatment, it will facilitate the maintenance of the health information of patients and will accelerate research. The government is also bringing in compliance and technology to drive this further via the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). Currently, as the Voice AI partner in 240+ hospitals in India, Augnito is leading the tech transformation in India.

  1. Do you think with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), the government has taken the first step towards standardizing the process of identification of an individual across healthcare providers?

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission: The UPI of the health sector – Post the introduction of India’s biggest game changer in the health sector, the Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme, the government has been providing the right impetus for the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). This promises to be a giant step towards digitisation of health service and records, and, many are even terming it, as the UPI of the health sector that is going to transform it forever. This takes the first, and an extremely important step, towards standardising the process of identification of an individual across healthcare providers. At the same time, this is being seen as the only way to ensure that the created medical records are issued to the correct individual. The provision of maintaining detailed digital health records that are updated accurately and easily, across multiple systems and stakeholders, will be the key to the success of the program. The government is also taking initiatives to build a patient-centric technology backbone that would enable different providers to exchange healthcare data for patients.

  1. What are some ways we can revolutionize healthcare in India? What are your future plans with Augnito?

Revolutionising healthcare in India can be fostered by developing tighter partnerships between hospitals and Tech Start-ups. Technology companies and entrepreneurs, with their domain expertise in innovating advanced technology like AI and sophisticated user experience design, must partner closely with Hospitals that have a  sound knowledge of patient care to offer a complete solution that enhances the experience for both the doctor and the patient. This unison of expertise can accelerate EMR adoption and lead to better use of data in EMRs without adding additional burden on the doctors. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation and Machine Learning tools (ML) have to be adopted to revolutionise healthcare in India. AI will be able to fill the gaps in the healthcare sector such as the high cost of product design and stringent regulations, poor healthcare infrastructure and the low patient-to-doctor ratio. Hospitals across the country have started deploying AI & ML to support clinical decisions and improve accuracy and efficiency. One of the widely used applications of AI and automation is EMR (electronic medical records). Augnito’s future plans include further penetration into the global markets which we have already begun making inroads. Confidence from our partners in India have propelled us to take Augnito into the global market and we are now the Voice AI partner in urgent care units such as PhysicianOne Urgent Care in the US and at Prime Hospital in Dubai.

Augnito is also working on more profound technologies that can eventually drive diagnostics such as Voice Biomarkers for differential diagnosis of Parkinsonian disorders and other clinical conditions.

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