HCAH's Transition Care Centers: Bridging The Gap In Post-Hospitalisation And Rehabilitation Care

Vivek Srivastava, co-founder and CEO, HCAH shares how HCAH is catering to the emerging post-hospitalisation segment while bringing a positive impact to the lives of patients.

What are some of the shortcomings in the delivery of post-hospitalisation care and rehabilitation care in India?
Post-hospitalisation care is an emerging ecosystem in India and with it come a few challenges in delivering effective care to patients. One of the biggest challenge is the lack of awareness of the concept itself. People think acute intervention in the hospital alone will make them well but that’s unlikely. Without rehab, the outcomes of the hospital intervention may get compromised. 

In India, the payer ecosystem for transition care is still not as evolved as it has been in the west. This concept can save significant costs for the payer. Additionally, the healthcare industry faces a lack of skilled healthcare professionals, and we are trying to bridge the gap by investing in training, technology and processes to deliver better outcomes.

How have the HCAH transition care centers helped bridge the healthcare gaps between tertiary care hospitals and home care?
HCAH acts as a support system to hospitals and minimises the pressure on hospital infrastructure. Many patients have gone through acute intervention or life-saving procedures in hospitals but are still far from their ideal quality of life. 

They require a special kind of care environment. Our transition care centers help people with clinical recovery and help them return to their normal life. HCAH's TCCs reduce the chances of re-admissions, as patients receive continued care in the comfort of a home-like environment.

How are TCCs providing rehab care services for chronic disease-affected patients and bringing a positive impact on the lives of these patients?
Our TCCs are structured in a way that focuses on the 100% recovery of a patient through high-end equipment, multidisciplinary team, milestone-based approach and protocolized delivery. This comes in handy during Stroke recovery, where there will be a reduction in avoidable disabilities if the patients come to our TCCs. 

There are multiple use cases for other chronic diseases such as Cardiac, Pulmonology, Oncology, and other neurological disorders. We create a customised care plan for each of our patients and emphasise on significant cost savings.

How many TCCs does HCAH currently have? What was the impact of HCAH’s acquisition of SuVitas in 2021?
From 100 beds across 2 centers which we acquired from SuVitas, HCAH now has more than 250 beds across five centers. The acquisition helped us establish ourselves as the country's trusted out-of-hospital care provider. It added to our vision of improving Quality of Life of people. With the next launch of HCAH Kolkata, the number of TCCs will stand at six with a pipeline of more to come across the nation.

How do you think HCAH is different from other transition care players in the country?
HCAH has established itself as the largest transition care player in the country in terms of capacity. We currently have 250 beds across 3 cities (5 centers) and are working towards taking it to 2000 beds in 5 years across 10-15 cities. These centers will also act as the hub for other services which we would deliver in the community or satellite towns to increase further access. 

We are the most experienced player in the country with over 5,000 recoveries and also the first Transition Care to be NABH accredited. We have 40+ papers published in national and international journals demonstrating our clinical expertise.

As a tech-enabled healthcare provider, how is HCAH leveraging technology to enhance patient experience and improve healthcare outcomes?
With the aim to build HCAH as a technology-first healthcare provider, we are regularly investing in technology to deliver best-in-class outcomes to our customers. At our centres, we are using robotic hands, gamified balance labs, speech labs, OT labs, specialized treadmills with unweighing systems, tilt tables, and small muscle rehab tables to deliver world-class rehabilitation. 

We have made investments to build milestone-based delivery capability. To cater to remote areas we have established digital rehab.