Data-cruncher IMS Health is donning a new hat. Often visible as a tagline in small-print, that goes with pharmaceutical market data world-wide, IMS Health is morphing into a healthcare technology services company.

The pharmaceutical market-intelligence company will now address other integral areas of healthcare, including hospitals, health insurance and public health, says Amit Backliwal, IMS Health Information and Consulting Services Managing Director (South Asia). It has been acquiring assets and hiring people, he says, as part of this “transformation agenda”.

There will not be no moving away from data, he clarifies, as technology will be the common thread. The idea is to build and invest to get “robust and granular” data that would provide ground-level information to clients, helping them better understand or target the market-place, he explains. So the dependence on data assets will only go up, he adds.

IMS’ data has also been used by the Government in its recently unveiled drug pricing policy. And to those who question the formulation of a public health policy based on private data, he says the Government has access to the data, and they are not complaining!

With several initiatives planned, Backliwal illustrates how IMS is trying to capture more ground-level information. One such programme involved going to about 120 towns, to create a street-by-street record of every single doctor and chemist in each town, using technology such as hand-held gadgets, and so on. “That will be a game-changer, because no one even knows where the manpower sits and what’s going on,” he says, of this soon-to-be-released study.

Access

Tasked with mapping the complexity of healthcare in India — from private enterprise in pharmaceuticals, life-sciences and hospitals to Government-run facilities and programmes to insurance — Backliwal says the healthcare delivery model widely used is an “averaged-out one”, where you just apply one principle, painting the entire gamut of players with the same brush.

“Even the largest companies with, say, a 10,000-strong field-force are not able to penetrate and have real access to certain areas. So, a big part of it comes down purely to distribution, to ensure actual promotion or healthcare delivery,” he says, pinpointing healthcare’s key challenge in India — access.

People may find hospitals, but they need good doctors and then there’s the question of who pays for treatment, he says, adding that the picture gets further complicated as health, as a subject, is dealt with by individual State governments.

A key interest area for IMS is the over-the-counter segment. “We are also investing and looking at partnerships around consumer health… OTC, and other players who have data or assets,” he says.

With several technology-related acquisitions under its wing, IMS is looking to develop solutions for insurance companies wanting to cut down fraud claims or tailor products for local customers. There are drug companies seeking co-pay insurance models for their innovative drugs; hospitals seeking clinical protocols, or solutions to improve vendor management, he says, outlining partnership opportunities.

In a different type of partnership, it also has IMS Healthcare Institute to work with Governments, so that data can be provided for public health programmes and better disease management, he added.

>jyothi.datta@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics