Healthcare pioneer AccuHealth joins the Business Call to Action with a patient-centric inclusive business model

The Chilean company AccuHealth, a pioneer in virtual clinical hospitals, has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) with a patient-centric tele-monitoring service designed to improve the health and livelihoods of chronically ill patients with value-added medical care at an affordable cost. BCtA is a global initiative that encourages companies to fight poverty through inclusive business models. It is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other international organisations.

AccuHealth’s inclusive business model aims to provide patients diagnosed with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their families with a better quality of life by combining an evidence-based telehealth monitoring service with big data, predictive modelling and data-mining. It allows hospitals and clinics to improve bed rotation, optimise patient control and increase the geographical coverage of specialists. At the same time, it allows insurance companies to better manage their clients’ health needs, reducing the incidence of medical emergencies and containing costs.

By 2020, AccuHealth aims to serve 200,000 chronically ill patients living at the base of the economic pyramid (BoP) in Chile who rely on the country’s public health system. By that time, Accuhealth aims to extend its operations to 500,000 patients in Mexico and 300,000 in Colombia. In 2016, Chile will also introduce a free, preventative-health service intended to empower 1.6 million BoP patients and their families to better manage their health by 2020.

“AccuHealth takes pride in being recognised as an industry leader. Our innovative win-win-win business model provides vital, accessible information to medical teams, reduces costs for health insurers and offers poor patients a better quality of life,” said Xavier Urtubey, AccuHealth’s chief executive officer. “People at the BoP are most in need of our proactive, preventative tele-monitoring service and we are pleased to be recognised by the Business Call to Action for this vital work.”

Health expenditures in Chile total $20bn (£13.5bn) or 7.7% of GDP. Demand for quality healthcare has grown quickly among the poorest Chileans as the result of a pandemic in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly those caused by being overweight and obese, which affect 70% of women and more than half of men. Expenses related to NCD complications, such as amputations caused by diabetes and retinopathy blindness, impact household incomes along with a loss of productivity. However, studies have shown that NCD patients who receive early and adequate medical attention can enjoy the same quality of life as healthy people.

After a series of pilots, AccuHealth began attending to 2,000 NCD patients served by the national health insurance programme (FONASA) who were grappling with diabetes and hypertension – more than 40% of them were low-income patients. At its launch, FONASA’s director projected that if the programme succeeded, it would be expanded to the rest of the public sector’s NCD population. Positive results have lead AccuHealth’s management to propose an expansion plan both within Chile and to Colombia and Mexico.

AccuHealth is also launching a free preventive service, which leverages tele-monitoring technology to involve patients’ family and friends support networks while establishing a healthcare focal point to support the entire network efforts.

AccuHealth’s remote monitoring is based on medical evidence and patients’ active involvement: it anticipates disease-related events and treats them according to each patient’s unique health profile, diagnosis and environment, promoting a better quality of life. This model focuses on transferring disease management to patients and providing 24/7 support in crises.

“Good health and wellbeing is vital to the social and economic development of the world’s poorest people and AccuHealth’s inclusive business model is an example of how the private sector can successfully address those needs,” said Sahba Sobhani, BCtA’s acting manager. “We are pleased to welcome AccuHealth to BCtA and look forward to their continued growth and development impact.”

Content on this page is provided by Business Call to Action, and originally appeared on the The Guardian Business and the Sustainable Development Goals Hub