DRiefcase
- Federica Andreoni
- Mohammad Al-Ubaydli
The PHR
DRiefcase is India's first licensed Personal Health Record (PHR). It was approved in 2022 by the National Health Authority (NHA) for the roll-out of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
The DRiefcase Health Locker app allows users and their families to securely store and access medical records anytime and from anywhere. With a focus on personal health records management, the app offers easy upload and quick retrieval of patient data, enabling safe remote care.
To access and share health records digitally, users need an ABHA account (formerly known as Health ID), which serves as a unique health identifier.
There are some premium versions of the app offering additional features (detailed below in the ‘Features’ section).
DRiefcase also offers a clinic management system for doctors and healthcare providers called DRiefcase Connect. This is a practice management platform for individual doctors, polyclinics, and small hospitals, designed to enhance productivity for healthcare professionals.
History
DRiefcase was founded 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 bridge the information gap between patients and doctors.
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 National Health Authority 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 is India’s only fully ABDM-integrated health-tech solution that also allows users to securely store, access, and share their medical records within the healthcare ecosystem.
(PKB interviews, 2024)
Features
The primary use of the platform involves 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 for uploading. Patients can share their records with doctors (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 doctors into an ABDM-compliant EHR (such as DRiefcase’a Connect).
Patients can upload:
Radiology reports
Pathology reports
Laboratory reports
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 diagnosis
Medication
Immunisations
Procedure history
Appointments (with reminders)
The ability to book new appointments
Video consultations
(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.
Scan at Home
“Scan at Home” helps people digitise their 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
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 August 2024, DRiefcase has 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: DRiefcase Launches a New App Feature - Call for Blood: Connecting Donors and Patients in Need (accessed 26 July 2024).
DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-c, FAQs. Available at: DRiefcase (accessed 11 January 2024).
DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-b, Premium Services. Available at: Premium Services - Driefcase (accessed 11 January 2024).
DRiefcase Health-Tech, 2024-a, Homepage. Available at: Home Page - Driefcase (accessed 11 January 2024).