In today’s digital age, all sectors of the economy are riding the digital wave. Digital services like e-banking, e-booking, e-documents, etc., are increasingly preferred by people as they make lives easier. The same is the case with healthcare.
Pandemic forced upon the use of digital services to provide remote health care facilities, and this curve is now in stealth mode. India plans to re-imagine its health data ecosystem with digital initiatives like National Digital Health Blueprint, National Health Stack, National Digital Health Mission, etc.
In this article, we will discuss National Health Stack and how it may revolutionize health tech in India.
What is the National Health Stack?
National Health Stack, in simple terms, is a digital infrastructure to construct India’s health data ecosystem. It is designed to bring transparency to India’s health insurance system, taking into account the country’s unique health sector.
Components of NHS:
The NHS has different components. But the best part of the framework is it will allow sharing of health data across all health programs and applications. As a result, the health data ecosystem will see holistic growth.
The components of National Health Stack are as follows:
- Personal health records (PHR) framework
- To store, access, and transfer health data with individual consent
- Make health data available for medical research
- Electronic national health registry
- The single source of India’s health data
- Coverage and claim platform
- Enable nation-wide implementation and fraud detection of health protection or insurance schemes
- National health analytics platform
- Analyze data and statistics of health initiatives
- Support smart policymaking
- Other components
- Unique digital health IDs
- Supply chain management for drugs
- Inbuilt payment gateways
Who are the stakeholders in the NHS? How will the NHS benefit them?
Users
User refers to individuals who will store their health records digitally using their health IDs. They can store data directly or indirectly through clinicians.
Benefits
- Ease of health data transfer across hospitals, doctors, and others with consent
- Increased transparency of people accessing health data
- Minimizes health data loss due to record misplacement or physical damage
- Get diagnosis and prescriptions digitally
Health Information providers
Health information providers are hospitals, doctors, labs, clinicians, etc., who record the health data of patients and use those records to diagnose.
Benefits
- Gain access to required health records with patient consent
- Provide better treatment with health records to understand patient’s medical history
- Record health data electronically and transfer them directly to the patient’s health locker
Insurers
Insurers include both public and private health insurance companies, schemes, and policies that govern monetary protection.
Benefits
- Ensure claim and coverage with solidified data
- Establish coherence between health care schemes run by central and state governments
- Enable nation-wide implementation of health schemes
Government
Government includes both central and state governments
Benefits
- Smart policymaking with data-backed reports on the impact of health initiatives across the country
- Detection of frauds at early stages and prevent leakage of funds.
Medical researchers
Medical researcher refers to scientists, researchers, data analysts, etc., who study the health data of the population.
Benefits
- Ensure quality health care with clinically relevant data
- Constant surveillance of relevant data may help in altering the course of an epidemic
- Provide quality input for policymaking
Health tech developers
Health tech developers refer to health tech startups, health care companies, and other players who develop health care solutions.
Benefits
- Build better applications with the flow of existing health data
- Develop niche solutions that fill the gaps in health care
- Interoperability of different health platforms with a common digital language
Challenges with NHS
- Implementation
It is easier to build platforms than to build trust. People will have to be incentivized to use the platform to store their health data. Health data is highly sensitive. Getting people to upload it digitally will require an awareness drive.
- Data security and privacy
With minimal data privacy laws in India, a health data breach may lead to the compromisation of sensitive health data of individuals. The government will have to prepare a data security framework along with effective data privacy laws to avoid misuse of individual health data.
Does health stack work?
Yes, safe and secured digitalization of the health data ecosystem with National Health Stack is possible. The best example for effective implementation in Estonia.
Estonia is a country with a centralized e-health record system. In Estonia, individual health records are integrated from health providers. This creates a common record for every patient, which they can access online.
People can log in to their health accounts using an ID and review doctor visits, current prescriptions, and doctors who have had access to their health records. You can read more about it here.
Conclusion
National Health Stack is a great initiative taken by the government and has the potential to revolutionize health tech in India. However, the extent of revolutionization will depend on the steps taken by the government to ensure health data security and privacy.
Let us hope for the best.
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