The PHR

DRIEFCASE DRiefcase is India's first PHR app to be approved licensed Personal Health Record (PHR). It was approved in 2022 by the National Health Association Authority (NHA) for the roll-out of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) roll-out.

The DRIEFCASE DRiefcase Health Locker app enables the user allows users and their family families to securely maintain store and access their medical records anytime and from anywhere. The app has With a focus on personal health records management that provides ease of , the app offers easy upload and ensures fast quick retrieval of patient’s patient data, to enable enabling safe remote care.

To access and share their health records digitally, people users need an ABHA account (previously called formerly known as Health ID), which serves as a unique health accountidentifier.

There are some premium versions of the app with offering additional features (more details detailed below in the ‘features’ ‘Features’ section).

DRIEFCASE DRiefcase also has offers a clinic management system for Doctors and Providers – DRIEFCASE doctors and healthcare providers called DRiefcase Connect. This is a comprehensive practice management platform for individual doctors, polyclinics, and small hospitals that helps improve , designed to enhance productivity for Doctorshealthcare professionals.

(DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024)

History

DRIEFCASE DRiefcase was founded in 2018, to in 2016 by Sohit Kapoor and Harsh Parikh, both former investment bankers motivated by their personal experiences with the healthcare system. Observing the inefficiencies and paperwork in healthcare, they wanted to bring the advancements seen in financial services. As healthcare data is scattered across multiple providers in India, they believed patients should be the central decision-makers and aggregators of their own healthcare information. This vision led to the creation of DRiefcase as a PHR. Quick and easy access to medical histories would simplify the burden of health records management and reduce bridge the information gap between patients and doctors by making access to medical history quick and easy.The problem statement was simple – patients and doctors take care of health, not health records. This leads to a serious information gap, not only between the doctor and the patient but also between other stakeholders such as insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and the Government.

Digital health was still in its infancy in India, with national conversations only beginning in 2017. Despite early challenges, the founders funded DRiefcase and gradually expanded its capabilities and user base.

The company’s Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was a basic storage platform for photos of medical records. Next was a rapid data retrieval feature: essential for India’s short consultations with doctors.

India has evolved, with many records now digital and citizens able to create a unique digital identifier for health (ABHA). DRiefcase links patient records to their ABHA accounts. A governmental directive requests all providers to connect to the the ABDM framework by 2027.

In February 2022, India's India’s National Health Authority signed off approved the integration of DRiefcase with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM), enabling DRiefcase to launch a faster check-in service for ABDM.

Today, DRIEFCASE DRiefcase is India′s India’s only fully ABDM-integrated health-tech solution that also allows users to easily securely store, access, and share their medical records in within the healthcare ecosystem.

(PKB interviews, 2024)

Features

The primary use of the platform involves individuals scanning or capturing functionalities related to the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), such as the creation of an ABHA, management of consent and health records, and the ability for individuals to scan or capture images of their health documents and then for uploading them. Patients can then share their record records with doctors .Besides (DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-a; PKB interviews, 2024).

PHR

In addition to inputting their own information, patients will have access to data entered by their doctor, but this feature is only available if the clinic has purchased and is utilizing the platformdoctors into an ABDM-compliant EHR (such as DRiefcase’a Connect).

Patients can upload:

• radiology

  Radiology reports

• pathology

  Pathology reports

• laboratory

  Laboratory reports

  Patients

They can also take notes about their health in a journal

...

. DRiefcase automatically tags and indexes to easily locate and retrieve any record

...

. Patients can create profiles

...

for family members

...

within a single account.

(DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-a; PKB interviews, 2024).

EHR

If the clinic is using

...

DRiefcase Connect (the EHR developed by the same company)

...

and

...

doctors have

...

opted to share records with patients,

...

each patient will

...

have access to:

• their

  Their diagnosis

  ,

  medication,

• Medication

• immunizations

  Immunisations

• procedure

  Procedure history

  .

• their appointments

  Appointments (

  and get

  with reminders)

• patients would also be able

  The ability to book new appointments

  .

• video

  Video consultationsAt the beginning of December 2023, DRiefcase launched a new app feature, 'Call for Blood', whose aim is

(DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-a; PKB interviews, 2024).

Ask for blood donors

“Call for Blood” is designed to address the critical need for timely blood donations during medical emergencies.

...

Launched in December 2023, "users seeking blood within a city can connect with willing donors through the

...

app”.

“This is not just an app feature

...

; it's a lifeline for those in need. Our goal is to save lives and ensure that vital resources are always at hand."

...

(Harsh Parikh, Co-Founder of DRiefcase, PKB interviews.)

The 'Call for Blood' icon

...

asks the user to provide essential details, including

...

name, blood group, contact

...

information, and location.

...

DRiefcase will notify other users in the same geographical area.

One additional service (rather than a feature) offered by the company is the ‘Scan at Home’, to help (Business Standard, 2023).

Scan at Home

“Scan at Home” helps people digitise their medical history: on request, their team can go to people's homes and scan all their records. Some of these services offered by DRIEFCASE are premium and are subject to a price of 1000 (equivalent to 12 US dollars).

...

 paper medical notes. Scanning is free if the user sends and picks up the paper. Alternatively a team can visit homes to scan for ₹1,000 ($12 USD):

• DRiefcase can collect medical documents from the patient’s premises, scan them, and return them. This costs ₹1,000 and is available throughout India.

• DRiefcase can scan and upload medical documents at the patient’s premises. This costs ₹1,000 and is available in select Indian cities.

• DRiefcase can send a flash drive or CD with a copy of the data. This costs ₹1,000 and is available across India.

(DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-b)

Commissions for transactions

DRiefcase earns commissions on services booked through the platform. Launched in June 2024, the company and its partners provide services such as pathology, health loans, insurance, and teleconsultations (PKB interviews, 2024).

Challenges and areas for improvement

...

Patients can access data entered by their doctor, provided that the clinic assisting the patient has acquired and is actively using the platform.

...

Despite its many successes, DRiefcase faces several challenges. A significant one is the adoption and data flow of the ABHA ID system by healthcare providers, which relies heavily on the federal government’s management.

DRiefcase currently receives between 25,000 and 30,000 patient records daily from the 80,000 new users registering each day. But these records primarily consist of PDFs and basic consultation summaries. For many patients, data from hospitals is still not flowing seamlessly.

Monetisation is difficult, even while the app has captured 50% of the market. The company has not yet fully calculated the Return on Investment (ROI) or the lifetime value of its users, as its healthcare services, such as pathology and health loans, were only recently launched.

(PKB interviews, 2024)

Published outcomes - statistics

As of July August 2024, Driefcase DRiefcase has 8 million registered users (Driefcase) 16 million registered users (PKB interviews,2 024). Each day, 80,000 patients register for an ABHA ID through DRiefcase, aided by informative posters in hospitals and on-site interns stationed in 150 hospitals across India. The user acquisition cost remains notably low at a few cents per user.

To better understand these figures, it's helpful to consider them in the context of India’s broader statistics:

Currently, around 600 million Indians possess ABHA IDs. Government programmes generated 80% of these, therefore patients are unaware of their existence. Approximately one-sixth of these users—about 80 to 100 million—have voluntarily created an ABHA ID. Each day, 250,000 people either register for or use their ABHA IDs.

Of these 250,000 daily users, 50% use DRiefcase, either for registering or for returning visits.

(PKB interviews, 2024)

Screenshots

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Bibliography

• Business Standard, 2023. DRiefcase Launches a New App Feature - Call for Blood: Connecting Donors and Patients in Need. 2 December. Available at: https://www.business-standard.com/content/press-releases-ani/driefcase-launches-a-new-app-feature-call-for-blood-connecting-donors-and-patients-in-need-123120200591_1.html

...

• (accessed 26 July 2024

...

• ).

...

• DRiefcase Health-Tech,

...

• 2024-c, FAQs. Available at: https://driefcase.doctor/Faq.aspx (

...

• accessed 11 January 2024).

...

• DRiefcase Health-Tech,

...

• 2024-b, Premium Services. Available at: https://www.driefcase.com/premium-scanning-services/ (accessed 11 January 2024).

• DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-a, Homepage. Available at: https://www.driefcase.com/ (

...

• accessed 11 January 2024).

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