How is home healthcare gaining momentum in India?

The home healthcare sector in India is set to expand at a CAGR of 18.91 percent during the 2020–2025 period, and emerge as the fastest-growing segment in the market. Key factors that are driving the India home healthcare market growth include increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases, growing disposable income, and advancement in technology to offer home care services.

It offers the comfort of your home to treat ailments in a professional and not to forget economical manner. The industry is largely driven by the word convenience as today we are better equipped with having more complex services, such as education delivered at our doorstep.

The home healthcare business model provides an ease in patient care and brings health services to people at the convenience of their home.

The service benefits young and old alike – aging population in need of regular medical care, post-surgical care, patients recovering from hospitalization, and pediatric patients. Additionally, it helps in de-congesting hospitals for more critical care needs. The home healthcare has especially seen a boom during the pandemic as more and more patients preferred to heal at home, and the hospitals were limited to patients in need of emergency services.

The emerging need
With the steep rise in India’s geriatric population, coupled with the rising working population, the country is witnessing a significant increase in the occurrence of chronic diseases. Along with it, there’s an increased awareness on health and the growing need for convenience, which has largely contributed to the emergence of home healthcare providers in India.

The new RedSeer Consulting analysis predicts India’s home healthcare industry to break through USD 10-billion barrier in the next half a decade as more and more people demand healthcare at home for various reasons. Home healthcare in our country is coming to be a norm amongst various health stakeholders, from patients to doctors, and even insurers, which has taken the segment to more than USD 5 billion in market value. These figures are most likely expected tQo grow at an accelerated rate in the lead up to 2025, as per the RedSeer analysts.

The pandemic effect
The pandemic further fuelled the growth in this sector – telemedicine solutions complemented to the convenience of patient care, and accelerated the demand for home healthcare solutions. The associated cost-benefits along with the country’s technological advancements are driving the growth of this market to new highs.

The home healthcare sector in India is set to expand at a CAGR of 18.91 percent during the 2020–2025 period, and emerge as the fastest-growing segment in the market, as predicted by Netscribes research.

Key challenges
The shortage of professional home healthcare providers is estimated to decrease the possible rate of growth.

The increasing cost of evaluations, non-coverage by insurance companies, and to certain extent the unavailability of home healthcare devices has also become a hurdle in the overall growth of this vertical.

Road ahead
While our country has set on the journey toward delivering quality healthcare at home, it still has a long way to go as compared to the West. Our nation is lagging in having a well-established and well-regulated network of homecare and hospice services, and it is time to strengthen India’s stance in the sector as our aim must be to rank as high as possible. With a channelized network, India could be a key provider of trained human resource not only for India but also for the developed nations, and it could be an opportunity for many to opt for this as a career move.

Moreover, with a population of almost one and half billion people, it becomes a crucial responsibility to cater to their survival and quality of life. Therefore, it is an accepted fact that homecare is more affordable, convenient, and comforting, and hence, formal, and regulatory frameworks are vital in addressing these emerging health concerns in India. Home health care agencies, investing in people and technology, will grow and thrive in the future.