Healthcare in India is making multiple strides in terms of technology, access, and affordability, but its stakeholders continue to struggle with multiple pain points. 

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Care in India is episodic, fragmented, and lacking continuum for patients. Patients find it difficult to navigate multiple doctors/treatments and create comprehensive treatment plans for themselves, and they find it equally difficult to trust doctors and hospitals to help them create it as well. This is primarily due to hospitals and doctors working on incentives that are prescription-based and not outcomes-based, which typically leads to over-prescription by doctors, not just of medicines, but also of tests, procedures, and surgeries. Over and unnecessary prescriptions cause financial and mental stress and lead to severe distrust among patients, further complicating treatment and recovery. 

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Meanwhile, doctors too face hurdles in focusing on patient outcomes and delivering meaningful care. Doctors in India are in short supply, and tech adoption in healthcare across most of the country has been slow, leaving them with little bandwidth to focus on building the care continuum patients need.

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These disparities also impact another key stakeholder in the healthcare system - insurers. Although healthcare spending in India has exceeded $300 billion, with a mere 40% private insurance penetration, only $10 billion was spent on insurance premiums in 2022. This highlights the necessity for enhanced products that can increase penetration and consumer engagement. Moreover, insurers face the challenge of high claims ratios, reaching as high as 90-95%. The claims processes are often tedious, leading to frustration among patients, and low profitability for the insurers. (source: IRDAI)

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Each of these are large challenges, and while there are many players solving for them, they are working in silos, with limited focus on holistic solutions and incentive alignments. 

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Circle health aims to solve these challenges by focusing on “health care” of patients and not just “sick care”. Circle focuses on three stakeholders, namely doctors, patients and insurance companies to manage and generate holistic healthcare outcomes. This collaborative approach completes the circle of care, keeping individuals healthy and reducing hospitalizations. Currently, Circle Health offers its services to corporate clients, engaging with its clients employees. The company facilitates insurance coverage and provides comprehensive health cover for the clients’ employees with personalised health journeys, focused on minimizing the risk of serious illnesses.

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The founder of CircleHealth, Chaitanya Shravanth, has previously run a healthtech startup acquired by Cloudnine Hospitals, where he then worked as the CTO & CDO. He comes with a deep understanding of doctor mindset, insurance priorities, hospital incentive structures, and care-conducive technology. Chaitanya founded CircleHealth in December 2021 and has built a strong founding team across sales, care and technology.

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CircleHealth is in a good position to tackle the issues of fragmented care and inter-stakeholder distrust prevailing in Indian healthcare. Existing corporate clients appreciate the deeper health engagement of employees on the platform, leading to better health and productivity, as well as lower premiums and claims.

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We strongly believe that this model holds great promise, as it has already demonstrated success in a large market like the US. The Indian health insurance market is at the brink of innovation, and we see ample opportunities for new players to introduce innovative products and contribute to the exponential growth of insurance companies. CircleHealth is well-positioned to address the prevailing issues of fragmented care and mistrust among stakeholders in the Indian healthcare system. The company effectively bridges a significant gap in Indian healthcare by leveraging technology and aligns perfectly with our healthcare thesis, prioritising insurtech and preventive care. The focus of CircleHealth on holistic patient outcomes has also been crystal clear from inception and resonates with Enzia’s core philosophy espousing a customer-based outcomes approach.

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