| ACCESS Health International hosted the webinar “How Financial Services Companies are Moving into the Healthcare Sector.” Until recently, most health financing options have been offered solely by conventional financial institutions such as banks and large insurance companies. In recent decades, innovative financing mechanisms have emerged, offered by digital financial services companies who design the products and platforms specifically with the patient’s needs in mind. Microfinance institutions (MFI), insurtech, and payments companies – among others – are now entering into the healthcare industry to offer efficient, user-friendly, affordable health financing options.
Ian W. Porteous Porteous, Regional Coordinator for ACCESS Health International Southeast kicked off the session with an overview of how the innovation of financing mechanisms – such as microfinance, insurtech, and other payments companies – have entered into the healthcare sector to offer more efficient, user-friendly, and affordable healthcare options. Eugene Hong, MD Hong from DBS Bank supported this, saying they have increasingly been hiring people from industries such as healthcare to help provide a better understanding of how things work in other industries as banks branch out more into other sectors Also on the panel was Annie Wang from microfinance institution, Opportunity International Australia, adding that the current brick (offline) and click (online) collaboration model with MFIs really looks to scale primary healthcare services for vulnerable communities, helping to build the relationship and trust within communities and with the MFI. Daniel D Shrestha, from Cogent Health, Part of F1soft Group in Nepal commented on the great opportunity that still exists within the country, where $1 billion of expenditure was being made in Nepal in the healthcare space, but not even a fraction of those expenditures is being used in digitized payment. Speakers: Moderator: Adrienne Mendenhall, Director of Business Development, ACCESS Health International |
