Transforming Healthcare: The Impact Of AB-PMJAY’s With India’s Digital Health Ecosystem

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The Effect of AB-PMJAY’s Integration with the Digital System on Policy and Implementation.

Transforming Healthcare: The Impact Of AB-PMJAY’s With India’s Digital Health Ecosystem — The Impact Of AB-PMJAY’s With India’s Digital Health Ecosystem

The (AB-PMJAY) Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana was officially launched for senior citizens above 70 on 23rd September 2024. This launch marked the scheme’s sixth anniversary. The implementation agency of AB-PMJAY, the National Health Authority (NHA), has made specified portals for older people to register. According to news reports, the government intends to provide health coverage for all senior citizens, irrespective of their economic background. This scheme is set to benefit approximately 45 million families with over 60 million older adults by providing them with cashless secondary and tertiary health coverage of 500,000.

AB-PMJAY Incorporation in Digital Environment

The digital infrastructure offers a robust platform for establishing NDHM (National Digital Health Mission). Digital platforms can identify people, health facilities, and doctors, facilitate signatures, ensure non-repudiable contracts, and more, providing an opportunity to streamline healthcare and services through digital management.

Additionally, the overall allocated budget for this scheme is 3,437 crore. This plan also converts primary health centres and sub-centres into 150,000 wellness clinics to ensure that primary healthcare is noticed. In addition to therapeutic care, these wellness clinics will focus on disease prevention while promoting overall wellness. Today, Indian health care is divided into 28 states and eight union territories. Initially, many states and union territories had their own health benefits scheme. However, the augmentation of Ayushman Bharat emphasises unifying these schemes under one umbrella to promote the one-nation-one-UHC model.

Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

AB-PMJAY has successfully integrated the currently available digital ecosystem to provide end-to-end healthcare services through an IT platform. From identifying the receiver to their admission and treatment in medical centres, all these services are now streamlined through digital intervention. AB-PMJAY in healthcare can help expand the reach of digital health services to all citizens. It can also be used in developing an open and interoperable health management system that empowers residents, healthcare providers, government, and researchers.

Technological innovations like blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing services provide opportunities for the healthcare industry to transition toward an all-inclusive digital healthcare system.

Benefits And Impacts Of AB-PMJAY

The introduction of AB-PMJAY is set to substantially improve the healthcare system’s efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency. Treatment accounts like doctor’s prescriptions, discharge summaries, X-rays, MRIs, or other diagnostic reports will likely be digitised. Patients can benefit from keeping and retrieving such records to get accurate information regarding them and what services providers offer.

Simultaneously, policymakers and program managers can access data that allows for more informed decision-making by government bodies. The enhanced quality of micro- and macro-level data has enabled advanced analytics to facilitate better usage of health biomarkers and preventive measures. In addition, with the widely available aggregated data, researchers can study and evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions.

Challenges Of AB-PMJAY

AB-PMJAY’s challenges include difficulty obtaining reimbursement processes and adjustments. Furthermore, expanding the beneficiary base may pose challenges for smaller and medium-sized medical facilities, which could strain their resources. Also, many tertiary care centres or super-speciality hospitals are still out of the AB-PMJAY grid. The registration process for new applicants, especially senior citizens, needs to be made more accessible, considering the age group of the intended beneficiaries. The process should be well advertised through print and electronic media so the beneficiaries can take the necessary steps to enrol in this game-changing mission.

In Addition To This

AB-PMJAY may also pose technical challenges in healthcare. For instance, implementing the linkage to existing healthcare facilities could create problems such as difficulty in data integration or system compatibility concerns, further complicating the healthcare delivery system. It may also raise privacy concerns, as the government still needs to explicitly clarify how to protect digital records. Thus, such implementation demands robust data protection measures and an assured adherence to privacy requirements.

(This article is authored by Dr Debojyoti Dhar, Co-founder and Director of Leucine Rich Bio)