Development of a nation can not only be measured by its wealth but also by the health of its citizens. Despite Indian’s inclination towards fitness lately, the awareness about preventive healthcare still lags.The busy work schedule, lack of seriousness /perception about the symptoms, or lack of robust primary care infrastructure influences patients to ignore the symptoms or self-medicate. Indian Health Organisation (IHO) is addressing this challenge with vHealth by Aetna, an integrated primary care service that can potentially become the first point of contact for any family. At the heart of the service is a team of in-house telemedicine trained doctors using robust clinical protocols to deliver quality care. Its elaborate network of around 16,500 physical partners including top tier hospitals, diagnostic chains, and standalone doctors spread across 40 cities enables its members get quality medical services in the comfort of their home, like diagnostic tests, medicine delivery, GP consultations and specialists’ referral.

Unparalleled Medical Services
With the support of its parent company AETNA, a Fortune 100 world leader in healthcare service,

IHO entered into a clinical partnership with MEDGATE AG,the Swiss-based market leader in telemedicine. As part of this partnership, IHO uses their Patient Management Systems, and detailed medical & training protocols, customized for India. The in-house vHealth doctors (certified for telemedicine as per International quality standards) spend around 20-30 minutes for each consultation to understand the patient’s social and medical history, probe them with questions relevant to their medical problem and ask them to perform few maneuvers that will help patient’s unravel points which earlier they were ignorant of.

The treatment progress is monitored through consistent follow-up and corrective action is taken basis the patient’s condition

The treatment progress is monitored through consistent follow-up and corrective action is taken basis the patient’s condition. With clinical care, stringent quality measures and consistent follow-ups, IHO has been able to reduce the need for physical consults by over 70 percent and completed over 10,000 consults from the launch of vHealth in May 2017. “The time spent by our doctors on detailed history taking and going through the clinical protocol is resulting in the early diagnosis of lifestyle diseases, presumptive diagnosis, and other serious conditions, in addition to treating common acute and chronic medical conditions and advising on preventive care. In

many cases, our doctors have been able to provide a second opinion and recommend less harmful or less risky therapeutic options,”adds Manasije.

“For any medical requirement, our team of doctors ensures they provide right advice and handhold patients across the treatment journey till they are back in good health. Therefore, we are like a doctor in your family,”remarks Manasije Mishra, MD, IHO & Aetna India. Standing apart with a unique mixture of telemedicine and offline medical services, IHO has a state-of-the-art telemedicine center that has both voice and video facility. “We can arrange a home visit for blood test & receive reports electronically, arrange for discounted medicine delivery within four hours, maintain patient health records, coordinate specialist appointments and always be there to provide expert guidance,” adds Manasije.

Withan annual vHealth membership at Rs.2400, the entire family of four members gets unlimited tele consultation. As an addition to this, IHO’s Classic Family Consultation (at an annual membership of Rs.5880 for a family of four) provides free physical consultation at top hospitals, preventive health check ups, and discounts on family’s day-to-day medical expenses.

Having added over 7 lac customers since its inception, the company aspires to procure four million customers by 2020 with several innovative servicesin the pipeline. With sales offices located in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai & Mumbai, this Delhi-based company is set to storm the Indian market with its over 350 strong workforce.