Post-pandemic, here’s how digital healthcare is transforming SEA

The Southeast Asian healthcare and healthtech sectors have seen dramatic changes in the last two years.

The pandemic deepened industry trends that were already in place, leading to significant rises in funding and digitalization. In the first half of 2021 alone, investors poured US$276 million into the region’s healthtech ventures, surpassing the US$180 million raised in the entirety of 2020.

In clinics and hospitals, digital tools are making significant headway in the healthcare sector after years of slow uptake by the industry due to doctor and patient resistance. For instance, digital diagnostics and remote monitoring innovations are becoming more common thanks to telehealth startups like Doctor Anywhere and DoctorOnCall.

The innovations and trends that are changing Southeast Asia’s healthtech industry were the main themes of “Disrupting Healthcare in Southeast Asia,” a virtual panel held on April 27.

The event was organized by Tech in Asia and sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures (JJIV), an impact investment vehicle within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation that deploys investments in healthtech innovations to address health workforce and healthcare challenges. It was moderated by Nilesh Wadhwa, JJIV’s director of new ventures and transactions, and featured speakers from startup investor Openspace Ventures and private equity firm ABC Impact.

Bridging healthcare’s infrastructure gaps

Gervin Yang, executive director at Openspace Ventures, explained that the current surge in healthtech adoption is due to the poor supply of quality care from existing healthcare institutions.

In Asia Pacific, average doctor-to-patient ratios are generally lower compared to countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This has led to higher mortality rates and poorer health outcomes in Asia.

The weakness of the existing supply-demand gaps is especially apparent when examining it through the lens of the rural-urban divide, according to May Lo, a director at ABC Impact.

Though over 60% of Southeast Asians live in rural areas, most healthcare infrastructure is concentrated in urban locations and difficult to access, Lo highlighted.

May Lo, director at private equity firm ABC Impact / Photo credit: ABC Impact

For example, research conducted in Indonesia and the Philippines found that women in urban areas made more prenatal visits than those in rural areas. Another study covering Malaysia’s healthcare system showed that the distance between rural hospitals and the patients they serve were on average twice as far as their urban counterparts.

These disparities make access to healthcare more geographically and financially difficult for rural patients, many of whom tend to be low-income earners to begin with.

“These weaknesses have been brewing over the course of many, many years,” said Yang. “What we’re seeing is the acceptance and adoption of digital tools to augment that gap in supply and demand.”

Lo agreed with Yang and added that healthtech startups are playing a major role in controlling costs in the healthcare system by improving supply chains and access through telemedicine.

“We saw during the pandemic how important it was to ensure supplies of essential consumables like personal protective equipment and masks,” she said. “There have been interesting models that have used tech to ensure efficient supply and allocation of resources.”

The remote care revolution

However, healthtech solutions cover more than just the delivery of care. Lo noted that their scope could also expand to include technological support for care providers directly engaged with patients.

Yang brought up the example of remote patient monitoring, which helps healthcare institutions to equalize doctor-to-patient ratios.

“What we are essentially trying to do is to increase the number of patients that a doctor and nurse can look after at any single time,” he said.

Gervin Yang, executive director at Openspace Ventures / Photo credit: Openspace Ventures

He shared how digital tools are revolutionizing home care in the US by giving care providers the ability to remotely monitor patients. At the same time, these tools are gathering data-driven insights that can reliably inform physician decisions.

“In a traditional setting, a nurse could potentially look after 30 patients at a time. With smart-enough technology, we could increase that to maybe 150 or even 200 patients,” Yang explained. “Remote patient monitoring has come a long way. Studies have shown that it really improves outcomes, lowers costs, and increases efficiencies.”

Striking the right balance

Despite the general positivity around healthtech innovations, there are challenges in implementing these solutions in Southeast Asia. According to Yang, one such challenge facing healthtech players is the persistence of accepted norms in healthcare institutions.

“These pathways were established many, many years ago and they did produce really good outcomes for patients – that’s hard to change,” he said. “What we need is smart people who can digitalize those pathways in order to produce the same or even better outcomes for patients.”

For Lo, the biggest challenge lies in how innovators think about the delivery of their services, as startups may be too focused on their technology and ignore the basics of healthcare operations.

“Of course, the technology itself has to be viable, but we also have to consider the business model and whether it will be adopted,” she explained. “Going to see a doctor is not like buying a TV – there is still an online-offline aspect to the journey.”

“The mode of delivery really matters because doctors will have to endorse this service. Without that clinical backing, it will be hard to change people’s minds and gain their trust,” she added.

The sensitive nature of healthcare makes trust an essential ingredient, which is why healthtech firms need to ensure that their solutions incorporate some aspects of the traditional clinical experience. Lo brought up an Indian homecare service startup that ABC Impact invested in last year as an example – the firm enables healthcare providers to make hospital referrals through its platform.

“It’s important to have the right balance and leverage technology in the right way,” Lo said.

Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures is on a mission to cultivate the world’s most promising early-stage healthcare startups by connecting them to resources, tools, and expertise. To find out more about how JJIV is accelerating solutions to the toughest healthcare challenges, sign up for its newsletter through this link.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.