Insights

17-Jan-17 India’s Practo has raised US$55 mn in funding led by China’s Tencent. The funds will be used to foray into health insurance, bundling it with its consumer-facing services. Practo aggregates over 200,000 doctors across 10,000 hospitals, 8,000 diagnostic centers and 4,000 wellness and fitness centers in India, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. [image: Tech In Asia]

11-Dec-16 As more patients in Malaysia opt for public hospitals, patient volume in private hospitals has dropped 20-30%. With medical inflation expected to be 15% in 2017, private hospitals must find ways of coping with falling revenue. Charges will go up when private hospitals can no longer contain their costs within reasonable limits. [image: The Star]

09-Dec-16 A HKD6.3 bn (USD812 mn) private hospital to be run by the Chinese University - envisioned as Hong Kong's first not-for-profit and self-financed teaching hospital - will offer 70% of its services in fixed packages to cater for the middle class, plus specialist quotas for Hospital Authority patients. The 619-bed hospital is to be commissioned in 2020. [image: The Standard]

24-Nov-16 In Indonesia, the Coordination of Benefits (COB) provision is changing the country’s healthcare landscape. While the COB is not new, its ability to now be combined with the JKN national health insurance and private insurers should benefit the industry. From the perspective of insurance users, this can pave the way for higher productivity by using private medical providers. [image: Wikipedia / Shawn M. Spitler / U.S. Marine Corps]