Frugal innovation in healthcare | The Economist
- 5 years ago
Two million people need life-saving heart operations in India every year—but only 5% will get them. Pioneering heart surgeon Dr Devi Shetty is on a mission to make world-class treatment available to all. Find out how in Health without wealth
Economist Films expresses The Economist’s globally curious outlook in the form of short, mind-stretching documentaries.
In an Indian Hospital, doctors prepare a two-year-old girl for potentially life-saving surgery. She's going under the knife in the world's busiest cardiac hospital. But it's not enough - two million people need life-saving heart operations in India every year. Only a fraction of who will get them.
Globally an aging population and chronic long-term illnesses are placing an ever greater burden on health systems already struggling with mounting costs. Patients worldwide could soon be paying the price - but can doctors find solutions that won't cost us our lives?
In this rural region of India, most people are subsistence farmers. This two year old girl is about to embark on a life-saving journey. Without surgery she faces a lifetime of chronic illness, breathing problems, and potential heart failure - but she's one of the lucky ones. She's been given the opportunity to go to the city for the treatment she desperately needs.
Globally there's a chronic illness epidemic that's increasing year-on-year. Illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, lung disease and some cancers now account for 70% of worldwide deaths.
With growing life expectancy comes rising populations and increased pressure on health systems to cope with this silent epidemic. According to Dr. Shetty, of the two million people who need heart operations in India annually, only 5% will get them.
He and his colleagues have taken a radical step to make it affordable. It's an approach they call frugal innovation. Here surgeries like hers cost as little as 3% of those carried out in western hospitals. When managed like this, hospitals are only used for critical treatments. It's an approach that's starting to have resonance well beyond this hospital in India.
In New York City, more than one in five people suffer from chronic
diseases like diabetes. With mounting pressure on the local health systems an innovative new project is trying to cut hospital admissions by helping the most vulnerable patients in their own homes. These health coaches have no formal medical training
but they meet weekly with their clients to help them understand and manage their conditions. These health coaches are recruited from the neighborhoods in which they work so they understand the challenges faced by the people here. It's this local connection that enables Hilda to motivate and educate her clients.
In just two years it's claimed this community initiative has averted emergency hospital visits for a quarter of their clients. They're now working with New York's Department of Health to help redesign how it delivers care to patients with all kinds of long-term chronic diseases.
In India, hospitals can benefit from light touch regulation, cheap land and far lower labour costs. in the West, healthcare providers can't hope to replicate this model - but they do need to implement their own frugal innovation. One of London's oldest hospitals is working with a health innovation studio to save time, money, and lives.
It's not run by medical professionals but designers. Today they're testing a mobile phone app that could help over a million children in the UK manage another chronic condition - asthma. This child-friendly app is designed to encourage kids to monitor their condition and alert them to triggers in the hope it will avert
hospital admissions.
Britain's National Health Service spends 1 billion pounds a year treating asthma, yet it's estimated that 75% of hospital admissions are avoidable. Cheap, simple, and effective innovations like this app could potentially have a huge impact on
health budgets. Not just in the UK but around the world. While pressure on healthcare systems varies from country to country they all share one common challenge - to maintain standards while reducing costs.
Medical pioneers alone can never solve the countless problems facing global healthcare, but they can provide inspiration -
especially if saving money can help to save more lives
To watch more visit http://www.economist.com/films
Subscribe NOW to The Economist: http://econ.st/1Fsu2Vj
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The Economist videos give authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.
Economist Films expresses The Economist’s globally curious outlook in the form of short, mind-stretching documentaries.
In an Indian Hospital, doctors prepare a two-year-old girl for potentially life-saving surgery. She's going under the knife in the world's busiest cardiac hospital. But it's not enough - two million people need life-saving heart operations in India every year. Only a fraction of who will get them.
Globally an aging population and chronic long-term illnesses are placing an ever greater burden on health systems already struggling with mounting costs. Patients worldwide could soon be paying the price - but can doctors find solutions that won't cost us our lives?
In this rural region of India, most people are subsistence farmers. This two year old girl is about to embark on a life-saving journey. Without surgery she faces a lifetime of chronic illness, breathing problems, and potential heart failure - but she's one of the lucky ones. She's been given the opportunity to go to the city for the treatment she desperately needs.
Globally there's a chronic illness epidemic that's increasing year-on-year. Illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, lung disease and some cancers now account for 70% of worldwide deaths.
With growing life expectancy comes rising populations and increased pressure on health systems to cope with this silent epidemic. According to Dr. Shetty, of the two million people who need heart operations in India annually, only 5% will get them.
He and his colleagues have taken a radical step to make it affordable. It's an approach they call frugal innovation. Here surgeries like hers cost as little as 3% of those carried out in western hospitals. When managed like this, hospitals are only used for critical treatments. It's an approach that's starting to have resonance well beyond this hospital in India.
In New York City, more than one in five people suffer from chronic
diseases like diabetes. With mounting pressure on the local health systems an innovative new project is trying to cut hospital admissions by helping the most vulnerable patients in their own homes. These health coaches have no formal medical training
but they meet weekly with their clients to help them understand and manage their conditions. These health coaches are recruited from the neighborhoods in which they work so they understand the challenges faced by the people here. It's this local connection that enables Hilda to motivate and educate her clients.
In just two years it's claimed this community initiative has averted emergency hospital visits for a quarter of their clients. They're now working with New York's Department of Health to help redesign how it delivers care to patients with all kinds of long-term chronic diseases.
In India, hospitals can benefit from light touch regulation, cheap land and far lower labour costs. in the West, healthcare providers can't hope to replicate this model - but they do need to implement their own frugal innovation. One of London's oldest hospitals is working with a health innovation studio to save time, money, and lives.
It's not run by medical professionals but designers. Today they're testing a mobile phone app that could help over a million children in the UK manage another chronic condition - asthma. This child-friendly app is designed to encourage kids to monitor their condition and alert them to triggers in the hope it will avert
hospital admissions.
Britain's National Health Service spends 1 billion pounds a year treating asthma, yet it's estimated that 75% of hospital admissions are avoidable. Cheap, simple, and effective innovations like this app could potentially have a huge impact on
health budgets. Not just in the UK but around the world. While pressure on healthcare systems varies from country to country they all share one common challenge - to maintain standards while reducing costs.
Medical pioneers alone can never solve the countless problems facing global healthcare, but they can provide inspiration -
especially if saving money can help to save more lives
To watch more visit http://www.economist.com/films
Subscribe NOW to The Economist: http://econ.st/1Fsu2Vj
Get more from The Economist
Follow us: https://twitter.com/TheEconomist
Like us: https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist
View photos: https://instagram.com/theeconomist/
The Economist videos give authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.