BUSINESS

INDIA * THE MAGAZINE OF THE CORPORATE WORLD FEBRUARY 19, 2012 PAGE 106 Healthful discounts In an innovative move, two small companies offer discounts in healthcare services and are carving a niche for themselves. Everyone loves a good discount, particularly with regard to medicines, doctors fees and hospital expenses because the budgets of most Indian families do not have a separate allocation for health costs. Realizing the immense potential of this service, two small companies - one based in Pune and the other in Mumbai, are offering its members a sizeable discount each time they need to get a blood test, CT scan or some other such service. Individual clients have to pay a small membership fee and they are given a list of empanelled healthcare organisations where they can obtain the discount. For service providers, they offer a certain volume of business that would otherwise entail a heavy marketing expense. "The patients will benefit because they will receive quality health-care services at a reduced cost, and the healthcare providers will receive better productivity without incurring the high cost of obtaining references," says Akash Rajpal, managing director, Ekohealth, which is based in Mumbai. The annual membership is also quite economical ` 1,000 for a family of four. Rajpal is a medical doctor with postgraduate credentials in public health, information technology, hospital administration and has some experience in M&A deals. Before setting up Ekohealth in mid-2011, he had worked for six years each in the health department of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation and a leading private hospital in Mumbai. He has also worked with the consultancy division of HOSMAC, a leading hospital consultancy firm based in Mumbai. Ekohealth has a panel of renowned specialists who go through your medical documents in detail and advise you in the form of second opinions. Further, with its large member base, it can easily negotiate with various healthcare providers to avail discounts of up to 50 per cent of the listed charges. This occurs when hospitals receive more patients directly because their marketing costs reduce and they, are thus able to pass on such discounts. Moreover, with group power, the patients are better informed and can take better health decisions. For members who have health insurance, the claim amount is reduced because of the discount and this helps insurance companies as well. To promote his service, Rajpal has also built a presence in leading social

media sites including Facebook and Twitter, apart from using the call centre approach. "Our call centre managers tell me that their conversion rate (number of customers who call to those who agree to join) is one of the highest in that particular segment," Now Rajpals fledgling organisation has set itself a target of empanelling 5,000 healthcare providers by 2013 and enrolling 10 million customers by 2015. While Ekohealth has been in business for just about six months, Amol Naikwadi, a chartered accountant by qualification started a similar service known as Indus Health Plus, based in Pune, more than a decade ago. But they have a completely different business model, which is focussed sharply on preventive health check ups. Budget packages Indus Health Plus offers its customers a variety of preventive healthcare packages priced from about ` 3,000 to ` 16,000, depending on the tests and facilities included. Essential Care Health Check Up, which is priced the lowest, comprises consultation with a physician, a set of routine blood tests, x- rays, a cardiogram, gynaecology consult & ultrasound examination and finally, a counselling session with the doctor. At the other end of the spectrum is the Exclusive Comprehensive Health Check Up which also includes a series of CT scan examinations, a mammography for women and an examination by an eye specialist. "Our USP is the fact that we offer a huge range of tests with counselling and reports on the very same day to save time. Besides, we offer comprehensive and detailed health check-up packages at less than one third of the list price of any diagnostic centre," says Naikwadi. To do this, Indus has alliances with as many as 42 well-equipped and renowned delivery partners in 20 cities across the country. Thus, its Mumbai list consists of NM Health-care outlets in four locations in the city, apart from Kohinoor Hospital in Kurla, and Super Religare Laboratories, while Nagpur has just two - Nagpur Scan Centre and Orange City Hospital. The latest to join the Indus network is NUSI Wockhardt Hospital in Goa, which signed up as recently as 27 January. No surprise then, that in its 11 years of existence, Indus has chalked up almost three lakh customers