Our healthcare system is notorious for its high costs, which Indian’s have traditionally assumed to be the price for excellence. Some Indian healthcare is truly superb, but we now know that serious quality problems also plague the system. There is compelling evidence that much care falls well short of excellence, that both too little and too much care is provided, and that alarming rates of medical error persist.
At a personal level, all most everyone has a story about healthcare. Many of these stories have a happy ending and reveal the extraordinary skill and compassion of doctors and other categories. Too often, however, even the happy endings were due to personal determination, connections, or the ongoing intervention of family members. Some good outcomes seem to have occurred almost in spite of the system, rather than because of it.
There are myriad dimensions to our healthcare system, and it is easy to get overwhelmed their sheer complexity. The first is the cost of and access to health insurance, for Indian citizens at large. The second is standards for overage, or the types of case that should be covered by insurance versus the type that should be the responsibility of the individual. The third is the healthcare delivery itself. All three areas are important. However, healthcare delivery drives the cost and quality of the entire system, and ultimately the cost of insurance and the amount of coverage that is feasible.
The IMC RBNQA criteria for healthcare, advocate ‘value for the patient’. Value in healthcare is the health outcome per Rupee of cost expended. The criteria serve to define individual and organizational effectiveness. The award process aims to catalyze the transformation of the Indian healthcare system.
Commencing this year, the IMC RBNQA team will consciously identify and encourage the not-for-profit healthcare institutions in India to participate in the 2009 award cycle. This, with the singular objective to redefine excellence in the Indian healthcare system: from effectiveness to greatness.
CREDITS: Suresh Lulla, Founder & Mentor, Qimpro Consultants Pvt. Ltd.