The Disruptive Solution to Transform Health Systems

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The Disruptive Solution to Transform Health Systems

Kabul, Afghanistan
Year Founded:
2010
Organization type: 
hybrid
Project Stage:
Idea
Budget: 
$100,000 - $250,000
Website:
http://www.orcd.org.af/
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

Conventional healthcare model is unsustainable in addressing the burden of chronic diseases, and this is a major reason for it. Our proposal is the creation of initial free Basic Preventative Health Package (BPHP) that has positive effects beyond the immediate users and is very cost-effective.

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

Most countries are burdened by an increasing healthcare cost, and an unequal distribution of quality and quantity of care. A major problem is the ineffective management of chronic diseases, their growing prevalence, and progression to acute episodes and long-term burden. Our solution targets this by empowering consumers, providers, employers, government and policy makers using education, effective payout, decreasing costs, and incentivization.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

The initial free BPHP helps address the challenges of chronic care. It is segmented to different population groups, and consists of conventional diagnostic and therapeutic services with emphasis on patient advocacy targeting obesity, cardiovascular health and diabetes. Researchers at MIT’s Poverty Action Lab have proven that when the benefits are not instantly visible but have potential to extend beyond initial users onto a larger social circle then the ‘product’ is a good candidate for free distribution. Even if the ‘free product’ is not utilized completely, the ROI of preventive behavior is huge because it can circumvent the ‘thinking factors’ of inconveniences and finance, and encourages increase usage.
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

A perfect illustration is about solving the crisis of obesity in USA. BPHP has a proven success track of improving the BMIs of individuals over a year period. This is equivalent to solving obesity and its co-morbidities like diabetes 2 and hypertension altogether. These chronic diseases cost about $20,000 annually to treat per person, and our cost of management is $500 per person. Our clinic has the capacity to treat 2000 individuals at a total cost of $1M per year. Therefore, a US population of 300 million would need 150,000 operating clinics for a total annual cost of $150 billion versus the current spending of $3 trillion. BPHP has demonstrated a social impact by saving 95% of our healthcare dollars annually.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

Our ‘idea’ is at its infancy stage, and hence, there is no solid data aside from research and successes seen in our private local clinics. Our projected impact using diabetes example over the next 3 years in USA alone includes: • Improved health outcomes and life expectancy by up to 10 years • Saving of $245 billion for treatments • Decrease % GDP of health from 16 to 1 annually • Potential saving of about $2.85 trillion in total health expenditures • Expansion to 20 clinics and 40,000 patients served annually • Decrease in hospital admission by 10%, ER 20% and save patient $2000 annually • Creation of 20 health coach jobs to contribute to local economy • Hundreds of volunteers learn to be effective health stewards of community • New rising generations groomed from school and community workshops to practice preventive care and healthy living
Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

BPHP is profitable at Day 1 because the idea creates a win-win situation for two parties. For example, companies benefit from a healthy pool of employers that can save money on premium of insurance coverage at a small or no cost to them ($500 annually per person coached). Clinics that setup BPHP benefit by having more highly compliant patients who are ‘paid’ to get well, and can make money from participation fee and billing third-parties.

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

As proponent of preventive care it is easy to identify our peers from the public health sector, CAM practitioners, allied and para-professionals, and including the community ‘healers’. In fact, in developing countries they are better received and regarded highly than the conventional doctor and hospitals. Our competitors are hospitals and specialty group practice. They see us as hindrances to patient management or decrease revenues. However, we do not see them like this as every health system has a place for us. Our combined efforts in an integrated model can result in best practices.
Team

Founding Story

We have two “Aha” moments at the University of Liverpool and MIT. The first is that preventative medicine has huge payoff long term. The second is that the correct pricing of health products can improve access and cost. Based on these enlightenments, we created a model of ‘free’ preventative health care that would benefit beyond the immediate users, and is very cost-effective and efficient.

Comments

Chun Wong's picture

What do you think about our proposal to disrupt healthcare systems?