CMR has released the CMR Initial Market Guidance report on home healthcare. The report provides the big picture of the home healthcare market, and captures current demand and supply drivers; opportunities and challenges.

According to Prabhu Ram, General Manager, CMR Industry Consulting Practice, technology and strong consumer demand are driving the home healthcare market. The space is dotted with healthcare aggregators, doctor discovery platforms, and start-ups offering home healthcare services.

Today, the home healthcare market in India is fragmented and comprises of some exciting start-ups such as Portea Medical, Pramati Care, India Home Healthcare, Unique Home Healthcare, Nightingales, among others.

Apalak Ghosh, Practice Head at CMR Industry Consulting Practice, believes that amongst the home healthcare start-ups, there is a clear focus on innovation, and companies are looking to bank on wearable medical devices to record patient data in real-time, which can trigger alerts in the system for quick and pre-emptive action.

Presently, the Indian home healthcare companies are focused on elderly care; rehabilitation; diabetes management. Although, the elderly care still contributes a substantial portion of the revenues, there are new market segments within home healthcare that are opening up, including neo natal care, says Prabhu.

Home healthcare has the potential to replace upto 65% of unnecessary hospital visits in India, and costs upto <20% incurred on hospital costs.

The interest from the investor community is also increasing, as evident from new start-ups entering the space.

In a competitive market environment, Portea Medical is responding to patient needs by strengthening its offerings. Prabhu believes that Portea Medical’s recent acquisitions in medical prescription and medical equipment domain provides it with more teeth in cementing its leadership position.

It is only a matter of time before the big healthcare providers enter the home healthcare space. Apollo Homecare and Max Home Healthcare are just signs of the changing times.

To truly succeed in the home healthcare segment, start-ups should focus not just on technology, but also on acquiring world-class medical expertise.