Despite the difference in digitalisation levels, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) adoption remains limited across private healthcare service providers, according to a report published by global Strategy and Management Consultancy firm Arthur D. Little (ADL) in partnership with NATHEALTH on Wednesday.
The report, ‘Pathways to Scale Adoption of Digital Health in India’, is published as a sequel to the 2022 publication, “A Bold Vision for 1 Billion Digital Health users in India by 2030”, has identified digitalization as a key imperative for the healthcare industry in India.
According to the firm, it has found a high level of acceptance for digital health services among consumers. While 74% of the nearly 150 surveyed respondents were aware of digitalization of health services, 67% had used a digital health solution recently, and 73% recognized that digital health records are/ will be useful. Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) has also found significant traction among Indians. Around 22% of the Indian population having ABHA ID and over 75% of public health facilities already in Health Facility Registry.
The report identifies an urgent need for the private sector healthcare players to adopt digitalization. ADL survey of over 30 private healthcare providers revealed that even though private providers acknowledge the benefits offered by digitalization, adoption remains nascent. Hence while 93% of the respondents agreed that digitalization is beneficial but only 7% of the providers have adopted digitalization across all operational use cases.
Despite the difference in digitalization levels, ABDM adoption remains limited across private providers of all segments and sizes, particularly due to a lack of awareness of benefits. Larger players are nervous about the implications of sharing internal digital systems and data, and data security. The smaller players are resistant as they view digitalization as an additional cost rather than an investment, while some fear increased regulatory scrutiny.
Providers using ABDM-compliant systems can capture more than 80% of the benefits of digitalization with a 60% reduction in Capex as compared to on-premises systems, it claimed. Consequently, there is no need to subsidize capital costs associated with digitalization, the report revealed.
“The consumers of the Indian health ecosystem are ready for large-scale digitalization. Larger players are nervous about sharing internal digital systems and data, and data security. Smaller players are resistant viewing digitalization as an additional cost while some fear increased regulatory scrutiny. The push for deeper digital adoption and ABDM integration by private players shall require a concerted and collective effort on part of the government, payors, and the private providers,” Commenting on the report, Barnik Chitran Maitra, Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little India & South Asia said during the press conference today.