Against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain disruptions and rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and precision medicine, FutureHealth.Now provided a platform for industry leaders to explore how innovation, technology and new models of care can help tackle rising healthcare costs, workforce pressures and growing demand for services across the region.
At his opening address, Ashok Pandit, Group Chief Corporate Officer, IHH Healthcare, described the ‘care stack’ as the combination of people, technology, financing and policy that must work together to support high-quality care in an increasingly complex healthcare environment.
“Healthcare systems today are facing pressures like never before. Demand is rising faster than capacity, costs are increasing faster than affordability, and expectations are growing faster than our systems can adapt. The way we have delivered healthcare for the past 50 years will not be enough for the next 50. That is why we are redefining the care stack – bringing together people, science, technology, infrastructure, capital, policy and trust to reimagine how care is designed and delivered. Ultimately, our goal is simple – better outcomes, greater access and better value for patients,” he said.
Among the conference’s key discussions was a session on balancing cost and outcomes in healthcare, featuring Dr Bhushan alongside Lawrence Lam, Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Hong Kong, and Professor Joseph Sung, Dean, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, moderated by Dr Kamal Amzan, Chief Executive Officer, IHH Healthcare Malaysia.
Dr Bhushan, best known for spearheading Ayushman Bharat, India’s national health assurance scheme covering more than 500 million people through cashless, paperless access to public and private hospitals, offered a framework for how policymakers, providers, payors and patients can align around a shared definition of value.
“Value is an outcome, cost is an input,” he said, adding that from a patient and society perspective, value means better health outcomes, equity and improved population health for the resources available.
He also outlined three tests he applied when deciding whether government should support new health technologies while leading India’s National Health Authority: whether the improvement is meaningful and not merely statistical, whether it is cost-effective relative to existing alternatives, and whether it improves or undermines equity of access between those who can and cannot afford it.
Drawing on India’s experience, Dr Bhushan noted that beyond financing, one of the biggest barriers to accessible and affordable healthcare is a lack of knowledge and information about available services – a challenge that is especially pronounced given India’s diversity across states and populations. He added that government has a critical role to play not only in financing and infrastructure, but in regulation, given that healthcare markets are prone to failure through information asymmetry and misaligned incentives.
