Read the Conversation
EF. If you were to create a new startup in the healthcare sector, what would it be, and what needs would it address?
HH: I would develop a product or a solution that delivers care to a broader market in South Africa, supported by appropriate funding models with an understanding of the regulations and barriers in South Africa. Creating an integrated, affordable, patient-centric solution enabled by digital health solutions is vital.
Providing quality healthcare to a broader population should also encompass chronic care options.
EF: How do you see the healthcare ecosystem evolving in South Africa, and what is Intercare's role in aligning with this trend?
HH: In terms of the health ecosystem, numerous partnerships and collaborations are already in place to strengthen it. International health literature has stated that healthcare requires partnerships and organisations with the same vision of serving customers to deliver care appropriately, affordably, and at scale. The question then becomes how to take these learnings, implement them, and put them into practice. The key is to leverage the capabilities that organisations have developed to form new partnerships. For example, digital health has the potential to be a pivotal part of delivering care and contribute to this ecosystem to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for more South Africans.
Intercare's role is to provide primary healthcare capabilities in both digital and physical settings and to partner with appropriate levels of care to enhance access. For example, Intercare believes in collaboration rather than owning everything. Partnerships are crucial in providing affordable healthcare by working with those already delivering care in specific areas. Intercare has enabled clinic nurses, through our partnership with more than 150 Unjani Clinics countrywide, to connect digitally with Intercare doctors when clinically appropriate and at affordable prices for the end user. We believe in finding alternative ways to ensure that the service is sustainable for the customer paying for it without decreasing the fees of the health provider that needs to deliver it.
We recognise that customer needs are dynamic and that offering convenience and accessibility is critical. Therefore, the Intercare healthcare ecosystem not only comprises primary care; it also includes day hospitals providing ambulatory care, sub-acute rehabilitation hospitals offering comprehensive, multi-disciplinary rehabilitative care and acute hospital care through our partnership with an international industry leader, Mediclinic. Collaboration with strategic partners allows Intercare to provide comprehensive, patient-centric services across the entire continuum of care.
EF: You presented on developing resilient health systems in emerging markets at the International Finance Corporation: Global Private Health Conference. How can we establish resilient healthcare systems in South Africa?
HH: The key to effective healthcare is to adopt a hybrid model that matches patients with the appropriate level of care. It may not always involve digital solutions but could also entail physical consultations if that is the right level of care. For example, if a nurse consults with a patient, followed by a virtual doctor, and then the patient ultimately requires a physical visit, valuable time and resources may have been wasted. We must deliver care appropriately to enhance healthcare resilience with a digital-first approach.
Identifying and partnering with the right collaborators is essential to developing effective solutions for various care settings. The term "care setting" refers to the location and mode of care, such as digital or physical. Enhancing efficiency is critical to achieving healthcare resilience and enabling everyone to perform at their best. Streamlined processes and workflows can be created for patients, doctors, and other professionals in different care settings.
EF: How can data and information be used to increase patient outcomes? How are you using it today?
HH: As a business, we have evolved significantly over the last few years. We've been able to structure our data and use it to improve operational efficiencies such as reporting, gaining insights, and understanding specific trends. Once the data is structured, we feed it to the appropriate audiences to enhance patient care.
Improving resilience involves enabling the movement of patient information, including clinical history, to the appropriate level of care. The more information can be moved with the patient, the better health professionals can diagnose their care needs. Care coordination is vital to managing a patient through various health settings in a fragmented healthcare system.
EF: You focus on delivering affordable, quality and integrated health care. How do you design a value proposition that encompasses affordability and quality?
HH: When it comes to facilities, a lot of effort goes into determining the location and the layout of medical and dental areas. Support teams, such as nursing support and dental assistance, must be centralised to lessen the burden of administration and clinical care coordination, helping doctors manage their patients better.
Affordability depends on the market. Many of our facilities are located in urban areas where most inhabitants are already insured patients. However, our partnerships extend our clinical reach to rural and peri-urban areas. We are working with funders to ensure that clinical protocols and pathways are followed, enabling us to deliver affordable quality care in a private facility if the patient ends up there as the appropriate place of care. Utilisation is critical to management, and we don't want to discount doctors' fees.
A low-premium insurance product does not necessarily equal a low consultation tariff, as it may have in the past. By looking at the package at the episode of care and the individual, we can realistically deliver and integrate care if all areas are covered from a delivery perspective.
EF: Do you currently have any initiatives to adopt and educate physicians and nurses?
HH: A current initiative is an online personal healthcare management tool enabling patients to access and manage their healthcare online. It allows registered users to schedule appointments online, view and update health information, make payments, renew prescriptions, access affordable consultations and condition-related information, and more. In addition, patients can access various levels of online mental health services.
When implementing new initiatives, we must understand how they fit into the current workflows of our customers and healthcare professionals. It is a continuous change management process to streamline patient journeys and clinical workflows to ensure adoption.
We collaborate with professionals and teams to share our knowledge and listen to their experiences. Doing so, we can understand and address practical challenges to implement new initiatives efficiently. In some cases, we structure our business units in a way that does not disrupt the day-to-day work of health professionals. For example, our centralised online clinic is a digital practice with a team of health professionals and support staff. It functions like a facility with a receptionist and support staff.
In practices where a doctor must work in a hybrid setting, we had to change our operational processes to a new way of working and support new initiatives in a way that applies to the specific audience. Implementing new initiatives without changing how we work would not lead to success.
COVID-19 accelerated the digitalisation process. However, we must continue accelerating despite the pandemic. It is a risk for any industry, especially healthcare in South Africa, where we still need to achieve the necessary infrastructure and technology to deliver quality care.
EF: How do you see collaboration in South Africa evolving, and what is necessary to make collaboration successful?
HH: Partnerships are improving and evolving. It can be seen in the healthcare profession and other areas of the healthcare industry. There are a lot of partnerships and new ways that companies are looking at it.
Collaboration requires an abundance mentality. It requires the parties to be selfless and not scared of sharing. They must be willing to share and collaborate to benefit themselves and, ultimately, the customer.
There are now several examples where different players are coming together. One example is the initiative between Intercare, Mediclinic, and Discovery. Last year, we developed a specific medical scheme insurance option that was digital first and then networked. This scheme was regional, requiring a lot of honesty and trust between three credible organisations.
It required them to open up, be transparent, and understand each other's operating models to some extent to deliver an affordable healthcare option.
Collaboration is evolving and can be accelerated, but trust is vital to successful partnerships. In the past, companies wanted to own the customer, and nobody wanted to collaborate because it was unclear who actually owned the customer. However, there is now a better understanding that one can use their capabilities to help someone else serve their customer. While we have our own customers and want to grow that base, we can also assist other institutions or companies in serving their clients or members. It is part of healthcare, and we believe in bringing our clinical capabilities to third parties. As a result, there is now more focus on business-to-business transactions than business-to-consumer transactions.
EF: You will celebrate your first year as a managing director in 2024. What are you going to celebrate at the end of the year?
HH: As the Managing Director, I prioritise ensuring that the strategic initiatives we have embarked on gain traction and provide a return on the effort and investment we put into the last two to three years. We invested a lot of time, effort, and resources in building our capabilities, and now we must leverage them to get financial returns and other non-monetary indicators.
Secondly, I would like to celebrate having a sustainable and engaged company. I firmly believe that if we are innovative in healthcare, we will be resourceful in employee or team engagement. Team members, clinical professionals, and support staff need to be engaged, and we should prioritise employee well-being, especially in tough economic times.
Lastly, I aim to ensure a happy and engaged workforce that can support our goals because the business is nothing without its people.
