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Indian Hospitals’ Ultralow Costs
The Indian hospitals we studied treat medical conditions that range from problems of the eye, heart, and kidney to maternity care, orthopedics, and cancer. Their charges for most procedures are as much as 95% lower than those at U.S. hospitals. That isn’t because the Indian providers offer low-quality services; five of the exemplars are accredited by either Joint Commission International (JCI), the international arm of the Joint Commission—an independent nonprofit that certifies the quality of more than 20,000 health care organizations in the U.S.—or its Indian equivalent, the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, which uses standards similar to those of JCI. A sixth is seeking accreditation and a seventh has chosen not to do so for fear that the process could stifle experimentation and curtail innovation. The other two are not big enough to seek accreditation yet.
Some of these hospitals—for instance, the Apollo Hospitals Group’s flagship in Hyderabad—have recorded equivalent or better outcomes than the international standards for medical complications associated with knee, coronary, and prostate surgery as well as for infections related to the operating theater and catheters. NH’s 30-day postsurgery mortality rate for coronary artery bypass procedures at its Bangalore hospital is below the average rate recorded by a sample of 143 hospitals in Texas. Similarly, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer patients at HCG Oncology is comparable to U.S. benchmarks. Deccan’s five-year survival rate for peritoneal dialysis patients is the same as that for patients in the U.S. undergoing hemodialysis, the more expensive treatment commonly used there. Rates of complications associated with eye surgery at Aravind compare favorably with those of the best hospitals in the UK’s National Health Service.
Indian Hospitals’ High Quality
How are some Indian hospitals able to provide such high-quality health care at ultralow prices? The obvious answer—the differential in the cost of labor—does play a role: Cardiothoracic surgeons, nephrologists, ophthalmologists, and oncologists in India earn anywhere from 20% to 74% of what their American counterparts do. For instance, Aravind’s ophthalmologists earn $50,000 annually compared with the $253,000 average for U.S. ophthalmologists. NH’s cardiothoracic surgeons gross between $150,000 and $300,000, whereas the median income for their U.S. counterparts is $408,000. And the salaries of nurses, medical staff, and administrators in India are dramatically lower; some earn only 2% to 5% of what a U.S. hospital would pay.
Delivering World-Class Health Care, Affordably - Harvard Business Review
The Indian hospitals we studied treat medical conditions that range from problems of the eye, heart, and kidney to maternity care, orthopedics, and cancer. Their charges for most procedures are as much as 95% lower than those at U.S. hospitals. That isn’t because the Indian providers offer low-quality services; five of the exemplars are accredited by either Joint Commission International (JCI), the international arm of the Joint Commission—an independent nonprofit that certifies the quality of more than 20,000 health care organizations in the U.S.—or its Indian equivalent, the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, which uses standards similar to those of JCI. A sixth is seeking accreditation and a seventh has chosen not to do so for fear that the process could stifle experimentation and curtail innovation. The other two are not big enough to seek accreditation yet.
Some of these hospitals—for instance, the Apollo Hospitals Group’s flagship in Hyderabad—have recorded equivalent or better outcomes than the international standards for medical complications associated with knee, coronary, and prostate surgery as well as for infections related to the operating theater and catheters. NH’s 30-day postsurgery mortality rate for coronary artery bypass procedures at its Bangalore hospital is below the average rate recorded by a sample of 143 hospitals in Texas. Similarly, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer patients at HCG Oncology is comparable to U.S. benchmarks. Deccan’s five-year survival rate for peritoneal dialysis patients is the same as that for patients in the U.S. undergoing hemodialysis, the more expensive treatment commonly used there. Rates of complications associated with eye surgery at Aravind compare favorably with those of the best hospitals in the UK’s National Health Service.
Indian Hospitals’ High Quality
How are some Indian hospitals able to provide such high-quality health care at ultralow prices? The obvious answer—the differential in the cost of labor—does play a role: Cardiothoracic surgeons, nephrologists, ophthalmologists, and oncologists in India earn anywhere from 20% to 74% of what their American counterparts do. For instance, Aravind’s ophthalmologists earn $50,000 annually compared with the $253,000 average for U.S. ophthalmologists. NH’s cardiothoracic surgeons gross between $150,000 and $300,000, whereas the median income for their U.S. counterparts is $408,000. And the salaries of nurses, medical staff, and administrators in India are dramatically lower; some earn only 2% to 5% of what a U.S. hospital would pay.
Delivering World-Class Health Care, Affordably - Harvard Business Review
