Innovation

As Founder and CEO Aasif Shah puts it, “The business offers a cloud-based electronic health recording software for doctors to digitally create and save the health records of patients along with a mobile application.” The mobile application is user friendly, easy to handle and gives patients and doctors quick access to health information. It also has a special feature called "Pill Reminder," which sends users a notification via their phone when it is time to take medications.

“The system creates [a] medication history of a patient and uses the information in an actionable format for better and personalized treatment of the patient for the next visit. Health monitoring data from various compatible devices is also reflected on the doctor’s dashboard. The vast amount of data collected from clinical visits is further used to create health analytics at [a] public and private level,” said Mr Shah.

It is thus that the innovation facilitates the work of both doctors and the lives of patients.

Inspiration

Mr. Shah had hoped to found an impactful business since he was in high school. He had a background in law, having pursued his degree from Jamia Millia Islamia University, but was motivated to immigrate to the health technology sector by his experience with the health care system in India:

"As a consumer of... ...healthcare… ...in India… ...I was dissatisfied with… ...the system," he explained. “Sometimes, it takes bad situations to highlight the need of the solution."

So, Mr. Shah came up with a plan to entirely digitize the health care system. He came up with a mobile app that records patients’ health care data for easy access by doctors and the patients themselves.

The dream of running his own business and dissatisfaction with the healthcare system gave birth to Stetho Healthcare System. Today, the company is in the growth stage and have implemented the system in many hospitals and healthcare centers. Stetho’s rise has the added benefit of reducing waste as paper is phased out.

Overall impact

The app that Mr. Shah invented, provides doctors and patients with easy acces to patients medical records, so it is easier to get all the patients health information. No paper is used so it helps to reduce waste as well.

Hospitals and healthcare centers collect a great deal of data about patients. But if this data is kept on paper, shuffling through it is hectic and time consuming. Stetho Healthcare System enables doctors to access that data on their computer screens, which reduces the time and help hospitals to treat patients efficiently.

This app also gives entire information to people themselves, so they can take second opinion if necessary. This empowers them to track their health records and their fitness levels by themselves as well.

Business benefit

Many hospitals still receive and process high volumes of medical papers, especially important printing workflows such as medical records, administrative files, admissions documents, prescriptions and pharmacy information. According to a recent survey by SHIMS (The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Analytics, 90% of survey respondents reported that some clinicians still use paper. Mr. Aasif says of his innovation, "It is a viable business model… ...Installation of the Stetho system costs 30 to 40 USD per month per doctor… ...while total consumption of paper costs more than that of Stetho systems. So, it is an inexpensive and better option for hospitals and healthcare centers."

Mr. Aasif’s innovation is being used in more hospitals, large and small. Expansion of business in minor hospitals and healthcare centers will increase revenue.

Social and environmental benefit

Digitization in the field of healthcare is a boon to the industry’s efficiency and it also promotes a more eco-friendly business model. Stetho Healthcare Systems is speeding up workflow and making it easier for content to be transferred between people and health providers. Being a viable business model helps the world move towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth."

Stetho healthcare is among the businesses that are working to digitize the healthcare industry and reducing the use of paper for prescriptions and bills, thus improving quality of services and reducing harm to the environment. This is promoting UN Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

Stetho Healthcare’s digital system costs a lot less than paper, thus reducing the costs to the business and increasing the profitability. Furthermore, it saves trees from being cut to supply that paper, thus checking deforestation and saving the environment. Preventing deforestation helps reduce climate change and air pollution, supporting UN Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action. Paper based prescription and pharmacy bills amount to Rs. 3,333 crore (about 481 million USD) worth of paper used each year, according to Mr. Aasif. "80 lakh [eight million] trees per year are required to produce this amount of paper,” he adds. This results in 1,74,421 metric tons of CO2 per year remaining in the atmosphere, which is equivalent to the emissions produced by 37,917cars. Reducing atmospheric CO2 by 1,74,421 metric tons is equivalent of planting 45,20,320 tree seedlings and letting them grow for 10 years, or replacing 2,05,443 acres of U.S forests in one year (according to the U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivilencies Calculator).

Stetho healthcare is working continuously towards providing efficient and eco-friendly data management systems in the Indian health care sector.

Interview

Aasif Shah, CEO