Why trust remains the biggest barrier to home healthcare adoption in India

When the system will be able to provide a high level of consistency and the experience will be predictable the home healthcare will be able to build the necessary credibility and trust.

As the healthcare landscape is shifting beyond the boundaries of the hospital the importance of homebased care is growing in the patient journey. However the adoption of such services is still cautious because the problem is not about awareness or accessibility but it is about trust. While hospitals represent security and control in the minds of the patient or the family the perception of receiving healthcare at home is still fragmented and less structured especially in the case of complex conditions, recovery stages or elderly care.

The gap in perception is the result of a mix of experiences that have not been satisfactory in the past and the lack of understanding about the process of receiving such care at home. According to a recent Grand View Research Report, the Indian home healthcare market was valued at USD 8.8 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 19 per cent through 2030 driven by rising chronic diseases, an ageing population and increasing demand for cost-effective care at home highlighting both the opportunity and the urgency to address trust gaps.

Lack of transparency and standardisation in care delivery

According to Suhasini Deshmukh, certified nutritionist, Co-Founder and Director of MedRabbits told Healthsite that one of the key problems is the lack of transparency in the process of receiving healthcare at home. In her words, "Unlike hospitals where the process is clearly defined with protocols in place supervision mechanisms or escalation procedures in case of emergencies the process is not clearly defined in the case of receiving healthcare at home. The lack of standardized benchmarks in the process of receiving healthcare at home is still one of the key problems.

"Since the process is not clearly defined or transparent it is difficult for the patient or the family to judge the quality of service provided at the outset. A bad experience can create a negative perception about the overall quality of receiving healthcare at home."

Fragmentation and limited integration across care systems

Deshmukh who has been on a journey to strengthen efficient and patient-centric healthcare delivery in Mumbai further notes that fragmented care is still one of the problems in the process of receiving healthcare at home.

"Unlike the case with hospitals or primary physicians the process of receiving healthcare at home is fragmented in the sense that it is not well integrated with the primary physician or the hospital system," she said. "The lack of standardized benchmarks in the process of receiving healthcare at home is still one of the key problems. Since the process is not clearly defined or transparent it is difficult for the patient or the family to judge the quality of service provided at the outset. A bad experience can create a negative perception about the overall quality of receiving healthcare at home."

Building structured and integrated care pathways

Thus, Deshmukh believes that to bridge the gap more structured and integrated approach to care delivery is crucial to be achieved. "Clinical supervision will be a starting point to bridge the gap including caregivers and the care process will have to be standardized to a certain extent. However the more important factor will be to move the focus to the delivery of integrated end-to-end care which will go beyond the hospital and the hospital discharge. This will require seamless coordination and communication between the hospital, doctors and home care professionals," she said.

"Care delivery at home will have to feel more like a continuum and less like a disconnect. Technology and transparency will also be instrumental in enabling the transition to a more standardized and integrated home healthcare delivery system. Alongside the delivery system will also have to introduce a system of outcomes and benchmarks to enable the transition to a more trusting system."

The path to building credibility and trust

Eventually the system will be able to build the necessary credibility and trust. However to build the necessary trust in the system of home healthcare the system will have to be able to provide a seamless blend of clinical rigour while integrating transparent care delivery.

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