Fintech has been so much in discussion in the past couple of years in the context of health tech i.e. fintech for the health domain. Yes, you heard it right! In this article, we shall be highlighting all key points of the products and services of fintech which has been a boon for the health industry globally.
What Is Fintech For Health?
Fintech is now having a good foot impression in the health domain whereby good tech is deployed to organize things with help of AI, digital ID, robotics, and blockchain. It’s not at all hype or misguided. To define a framework for Fintech for Health, we found it useful to delineate fintech solutions into three components: digital financial solutions, key digital enablers, and the channel to healthcare services. In the graphics below, we can see how digital financial services (like insurtech) embrace healthcare delivery channels (both online and offline) with the help of key digital enablers (like e-wallets and digital ID).
The fintech sphere has given us several proofs making us believe in the power of digital transformation to reach underserved and remote communities. With a combination of various offline services (hospital finance agents) and technology (e-wallets), digital banking provides trusted formal financial services in the health industry to people who otherwise would be unable to access such insurtech services. In addition, it helps to create digital financial records, establish credit systematics, pay later options and lower or avoid the transaction fees (third-party payments) associated with cash-based payments, etc.
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Why Should Healthcare Look To Financial Inclusion?
As we can depict from the graphics above, there are four main archetypes of innovative health financing outlook which cater to the need of unbanked or underbanked consumers technologically digital health savings, digital lending, insurtech, and crowdfunding. Such financing models are not mutually exclusive; the most practical and impactful models will combine two or more archetypes. Financial inclusion targets low-income populations through universal health coverage policies. People who don’t have the resources to access formal banking services cannot afford high-quality health care.
It is logical to converge the goals and approaches of financial inclusion and UHC towards addressing the healthcare financing challenges. It is quite advantageous to use technologies already deployed in the financial domain in which privacy and security are already built into the product. Public insurance has its limitations in funding, while private insurance is far from common and is often out of reach for low- and moderate-income people. Donor funding, on the other hand, has extended to impoverished communities through international non-profit organizations and is being scaled back. In countries like Asia, there have not been concerted, large-scale efforts towards the creation of innovative financing models that sufficiently protect from catastrophic healthcare expenses until public insurance covers at the levels needed.
Fintech For Health Innovation
 Below is the graphical representation of how heathtech i.e. fintech in the healthcare domain lifecycle generally behaves. From birth and natal care to prevention and wellness, vaccinations and screening to early detection and primary/tertiary care to hospice. In all the stages of a man’s life, one needs the support of the healthcare system directly or indirectly. So, in a way, we can say that fintech will eventually bloom if applied aptly in this health tech domain.
The influence of Fintech on the Health industry is still nascent. Digital healthcare financial service models have emerged with strong donor backing and were built upon the digital wallet framework.
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[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
