In a bid to improve quality and transparency in healthcare and enable patients to make informed decision about care, the state governments must make it mandatory for hospitals to publish clinical outcome data for all surgical procedures on the lines of USA, said Nivesh Khandelwal, founder of LetsMD, healthcare fintech start-up in New Delhi.

The governments should also come up with a mechanism to audit clinical outcome data of hospitals to ensure its authenticity and reliability. This will bring transparency in the quality of care offered by the hospitals and will lead to a decline in unwanted surgeries performed by doctors thereby saving patients' money and time, he said.

There have been several cases of unnecessary surgical procedures performed at hospitals to make profit. These surgical procedures range from cesarean deliveries to implanting stents into healthy hearts and replacement of workable knees.

The initiative will give patients the power to have a wider understanding of the medical options available to them. It will help them make an informed and transparent decision when it comes to their life and health. Clinical outcome data allows patients to compare quality of care available at hospitals which help them opt for hospitals as per their budget. Due to the lack of clinical outcome data at hospitals, patients opt for hospitals based on state of the facilities available there. Many patients lose their lives because they don’t know what they are getting into. It is important to keep them informed so that they can take better decisions when it comes to their lives, Khandelwal stated.

In India there is no mandatory requirement for hospitals to publish clinical outcome data. In a bid to enhance transparency, hospitals like Fortis, Escorts and Apollo  have started publishing clinical outcome data for major cardiology procedure which is based on global norms, specified by the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement.

Clinical outcome data is crucial to the concept of quality improvement. It helps hospitals to better their quality care. The data offers the opportunity to accelerate progress on the six dimensions of quality care-safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient and equitable, he opined.

Countries like USA have made it compulsory for hospitals to publish clinical outcome data.

In India healthcare is a state subject. It is high time, state governments make it compulsory for hospitals to furnish clinical outcome data for all surgeries in a stipulated time, said Khandelwal.

The Telangana government has taken a novel initiative in this regard. With an aim to rein in unwanted surgeries, particularly caesarean section, the state government has instructed all government hospitals and private nursing homes to submit a list of surgeries performed by them every month.

In February this year Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had written to Health Minister J P Nadda to make it compulsory for hospitals to display number of Caesarean (C-section) deliveries in response to a Change.org petition against hospitals and doctors profiteering by forcing women to undergo surgical deliveries instead of natural vaginal birth.

Subharna Ghosh, who initiated the petition on Change.org said if hospitals will put up their rate of C-section operations, it will help women make an informed decision.

LetsMD, engaged in disbursal of medical loan to patients, has taken 300 hospitals in Delhi NCR on board. In a bid to assist patients in selecting quality care providers as per their budget, it provides them images of hospitals, rooms, operation theatre, doctors' details, pricing packages, two videos of HOD of each department talking unique cases handled by them and frequently asked questions about surgeries.