India Home Healthcare (IHHC) is now increasing its footprint pan India and has devised its blueprint to expand to 16 cities by 2016. But it is now hoping that health insurance sector would recognise this service on similar lines that of hospitalisation.

The country’s home healthcare service is viewed a promising business avenue with a massive growth scope. But bringing insurance into the home healthcare sector needs to be seen. Insurance companies focus on only hospitalisation reimbursements while for people opting for home healthcare post that, the costs have to be borne by the individual completely.

When insurance is extended to home healthcare, there will be a huge rise in people opting for healthcare services at home, benefiting everyone viz. hospitals, insurance companies, home healthcare players and the public. This will in fact be a milestone in the home healthcare field in India, Dr. Anitha Arockiasamy, president India Home Healthcare told Pharmabiz in an email.

Following the recent 27 per cent stake by the US-based Bayada, a pioneer in the home healthcare field for over 40 years, provides IHHC a global and personalised touch because the non-resident Indians are key customers.

With the expertise from Bayada, IHHC has added on home care for children with special needs and palliative care for adults to its service portfolio. It has also taken on the onus to train around  10,000 care-takers in the next 3 years across 100 cities in the country.

Home healthcare is a time tested business model internationally. India, with its changing lifestyle has opened its arms to the concept of home healthcare. Mergers-acquisitions and international collaboration are on the cards because it brings in the  best of technological advancements and expertise required for this niche sector. There is a huge demand for trained medical care givers for long hours. This is mostly sought after by elders suffering a  chronic disease and bed ridden. With the nuclear and dual working homes, taking care of geriatric ill cases is an issue, she added.

Home healthcare is not cheap and therefore health insurance players need to bring it under the reimbursement umbrella.

The big challenge in the sector is that home healthcare in India is in a nascent stage and largely unorganised. Due to changing lifestyles and job profiles, home healthcare has been in great demand in both big and small cities. Availability of trained care-takers to cater to the huge demand is an area of concern.

Currently, in India, there are neither institutions nor courses that provide training to care-takers and nurses to work in the home healthcare sector. We will be training around 10,000 care-takers in the next 3 years across 100 cities in the country, she said.