Healthcare startups have bought a new revolution for a better patient experience in the healthcare industry. We would not have seen so many healthcare apps before this pandemic. There are so many new Entrepreneurs and Companies with fresh startups that are promoting their offerings for a better patient experience. These new products are getting affordable and available to the remotest of places. The new healthcare startups are trying their best to solve the prominent challenges of the Indian healthcare system. At Medicircle, through the Healthcare Startup series, we are trying to make people aware of the latest improvisation in the healthcare industry and the role of startups in bringing new revolutions. 

Subhabrata Paul is the co-founder of CareNow Healthcare. He is a leader with successful business execution capabilities. CareNow Healthcare is a healthcare technology-based in Chicago, USA, and Kolkata, West Bengal of India. It has offered technology solutions to allow healthcare to provide face-to-face and telehealth patient engagement solutions. The platform uses AI technology, which is the latest technology that healthcare startups are using to remotely monitor patient's body vitals on a real-time basis. It has tools for scheduling, telecommunication, and more. Provider of an AI and cloud-based telehealth platform for healthcare professionals, this company has developed a medical software solution also that allows professionals to digitally serve data documents and most importantly EHR that is the electronic health records of patients and their workflows.

Post-COVID, people have become tech-friendly

Subhabrata expresses, “COVID has given rise to many startups in the market. There are not one or two, there are plenty of startups. Names of big giants or big industries are not first. Most of them are new entrepreneurs. Presently there are more than 100 plus telemedicine platforms. Before the pandemic, telemedicine was not that popular. It was there before the pandemic also but utilization was almost zero. But now people are more comfortable with teleconsultation at least for the initial consultation. They are getting habituated now. People are trying to avoid going outside especially if they have choices available to minimize the risk of getting infected.” 

The need for remote patient monitoring is on high

Subhabrata describes, “Our company is CareNow Healthcare. We have two divisions, one in India and the other in the US. So, in India, we have CareNow Healthcare and in the US it is CarePlix Healthcare. Our main aim is to bring a digital revolution to the Indian healthcare ecosystem. We mostly work with remote patient monitoring and chronic care management. So, unlike in the US, in India, it is a bit difficult because the US is insurance-based and India is more cash-based. So, this was a big challenge and after working on that particular point, we are bringing remote patient monitoring to India this year. The need for RPM is high, people are now looking for home care and avoid visiting hospitals or clinics. Along with that patients are more concerned about their vitals analysis such as heart rate, oxygen supply. Now they are aware of the fact that body vitals are an important part of healthcare. If we keep track of these vitals, we can detect disorders at an early stage like cardiac arrest or any other abnormality and can prevent it.”

Careplix Vitals for monitoring body vitals

Subhabrata explains, “Careplix Vitals is a mobile app that runs in Android and iOS. No need for any wearables for it. It's just the phone and it uses your flashlight and primary camera to detect your body vitals. It can monitor heart rate, respiration rate, and oxygen saturation, but in near future, we will be bringing HRV (heart rate variability) and along with this PPG (equivalent to ECG graph). So with this doctor can do better diagnosis. This device is mainly for telemedicine or teleconsultation. If doctors get to know the exact body vitals of the patient, the doctor will be able to diagnose in a better way and the results will be more precise. In the future, we are also trying to bring blood pressure, on which the R&D team is working.” 

Apps cannot be used as a medical device

Subhabrata states, “The rules, regulations, the regulatory compliances are a big challenge in the healthcare sector. Coming from a non-medical background, first, we have to understand the medical terms. Apart from this, regulatory things, application development was another big thing. We had to follow the compliance because it was something that determines your body vitals. And this is not a medical device because the rule clearly states that any kind of application or even pulse oximeter cannot be considered as a medical device. So, when we are allowing our users to download the app, we give the disclaimer that this cannot be used as a medical device. You can use it for regular tracking but you should not use it as a medical device.”

Authenticity was a big challenge

Subhabrata speaks, “Authenticity was a big challenge. We have to make them understand that even this kind of technology also works. You can get your body vitals through this method also. There were other fraud apps similar to this before us in the market, so, people were a bit doubting us during the initial days. We clarified that we are not storing any of your data, not using any biometric. We have launched this app earlier in the US and the US is much stricter than India in terms of data security. And no doubt data security is one of the critical parts of the healthcare ecosystem. Hence protocols have to be followed and everything needs to be purely secured.”

“We have recently launched this application. We have 100 plus clinics all over India and growing more. Fortunately, many big industries have already shown interest in our product.”

An inspiration that turned me into an Entrepreneur

Subhabrata says, “My previous company's CEO was one of my inspirations who motivated me and guided me to start something new. I come from a middle-class family and was looking for a secure job. But somehow, I don't know how and when everything changed and I decided to take the risk. Also, my parents got interested, supported me a lot, and the journey started. There will be hurdles, there will be challenges and it will come in every step. But you have to keep going and execute well.”

(Edited by Renu Gupta)