Uberification of Health Care

The imaginative concept of matching transportation demands of people with cab facilities using a smartphone platform that Uber is credited to having created is now beginning to be applied to health care as well.

At the outset, let me share with you what I understand of Uber. It is an on-line transportation company that develops, markets and operates the Uber mobile app, which allows consumers with smartphones to connect with Uber drivers through a software platform for taxi service. Uber itself does not own any assets such as cars, or hire the drivers.

Uber was founded by Tavis Kalanick and Garrett Camp as recently as 2009 in San Francisco, but the impact and success of this “start up” has reverberated across the world, being now valued at US $ 62.5 billion.

Fresh successful ideas in one domain often tickle the minds of entrepreneurs in other fields. Healthcare experts are now trying to explore if they can bring about a revolution in their sector as well.

The proposition seems to be as follows: there are several people who need medical help, just as there are several doctors who can deliver them, but connecting them quickly is the real challenge. Our traditional rigid system of “going to a hospital” that is located at a distance, is rigid, and has multiple layers of hurdles is not easy for someone in urgent need.

This was sought to be short-circuited with the development of telemedicine services, by which a patient could get medical advice through an internet based software service or telephone. This format however works only for simple ailments, as there is not much scope for to-and-fro discussion, physical examining the patient, or getting prescription medicines.

The next major step, which enabled a patient to see the doctor and discuss his problems, came with skype based consultations. One could see the doctor on the screen and a to-and-fro discussion was possible. The only shortcoming Skype consults however is the lack of physical feel that is sometime important in clinical medicine. For follow ups, say for instance to tweak insulin doses in a diabetic, physical examination may not always be necessary, and Skype consult can be very convenient for patients.

The new concept of Uberification goes a step further. Can there be smart phone based app that helps patients in emergencies, such as an outbreak of allergy or high blood pressure or acute diarrhea, to get quick medical help from a nearby doctor who is available to visit his home?

This new strategy could be important for several reasons. Ailments which require the physical presence of a doctor would be possible, home care could get its long needed boost, and medical emergencies needing prompt responses would be easy to deliver.

“Unlike cabs, the main challenge in India would be to ensure a uniform and high quality of care by different doctors”, says Dr Dilpreet Brar. Upper class citizen have already started signing up on MediCube that she has launched in Indian metro-cities recently.