During the pandemic, economies across the globe realised the importance of the healthcare industry as the need and demand spiked with the number of COVID cases. Adhering to safety protocols and focusing on the essence of providing healthcare services without physically travelling to the hospital became a challenge. However, several digital healthcare platforms started gaining more traction, making it more convenient and easier for consumers to avail themselves of healthcare services. One such platform was MediBuddy.
What is MediBuddy?
MediBuddy is a one-stop online health management platform. They offer informed healthcare decisions to consumers with the help of modern technology and partnerships. One of the main areas that MediBuddy focuses on is Insurance benefits that are mainly provided for inpatient hospitalization, corporate wellness benefits and also a wide spectrum of outpatient services. The platform provides Enrollment of Beneficiaries and supports multiple concurrent enrollment windows.
They also have a Network Hospital Search operated via a GPS map-based search that helps consumers find a network in hospitals near and around them providing information online on various specialities, room types, facilities, etc. They also provide Online Appointment Management and Raising And Tracking Claims.
How did MediBuddy transform the healthcare insurance industry?
Healthcare services are unfortunately not affordable across India. Millions of people still cannot avail basic healthcare facilities including vaccines, lab tests and even consultation services. In such cases, healthcare insurance acts as a blessing and avoids financial risks in times of health emergencies. MediBuddy provides an eCard that identifies their customers as a Medi Assist member who can avail Cashless facilities at a Network Hospital. They also help them track health claims within the website. Users can plan hospitalization based on their financial status, choose payment plans and avail the insurance schemes available online on MediBuddy. This helps the customer to save and plan the amount spent on healthcare. Insurance schemes also provide a safety pad in urgent times where large amounts of money are required to be spent at a time. For most Indians, a small amount from the salary collected every month as health insurance is easier than spending lakhs at a single time. MediBuddy has different insurance schemes available for different people, based on their incomes, financial status, age group, etc.
What is in it for entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector?
Healthcare has never been the focus of the start-up sector. Especially medicare – or services that help individuals keep a regular check on their health. Checking on people is easier in hospitals however when patients are discharged, it becomes difficult. The importance of these services can also be seen from the fact that most of the healthcare costs account for handling chronic diseases. With the onset of the pandemic, healthcare has become one of the most sought after sectors in India given the lack of doctors and hospitals in India along with the lack of facilities and devices that can monitor and help look into a person’s health. As thousands of Indians are unable to afford basic healthcare facilities, focus on providing insurance schemes that are more inclusive of people from different genders, age and income groups. This will help you broaden your target market and increase your reach. The Start-up hub shows a high potential for growth in this sector.
