Pristyn Care Cofounder Harsimarbir Singh On Staying Ahead Of The Tech Curve In Healthcare

The Indian healthcare ecosystem is going through a paradigm shift, piggybacking on the back of the rising number of tech-savvy Indian founders entering the healthtech realm.  

This shift has today put India on the global pulpit, abreast of the countries that have some of the most advanced healthtech practices in the world. Consequently, the Indian healthtech market is estimated to become a $37 Bn market opportunity by 2030, growing exponentially from $2.7 Bn in 2022.

Amid this, the rise of technologies like AI and ML has only made healthcare systems, processes and operations more efficient, promising increased longevity for individuals.   

It is imperative to mention that the rise of AI is all set to change the game further, as it can reduce errors and automate repetitive and often time-consuming tasks so that the healthcare staff can focus on what truly matters — patient well-being — thereby increasing patient satisfaction.

Betting big on this transformation is Pristyn Care, a new-age healthcare company, which aims to democratise equitable surgical healthcare in India.

Founded in 2018 by husband-wife duo Dr Vaibhav Kapoor and Dr Garima Sawhney and their childhood friend Harsimarbir Singh, healthtech unicorn Pristyn Care specialises in simplifying the end-to-end healthcare journey of patients undergoing surgical procedures. This Gurugram-based startup is present in 30+ cities and clocked INR 494 Cr in FY23 revenues.

Besides being ahead of the curve in tech adoption, the healthtech startup uses an AI-powered medical trainer, MIRA.AI, to offer highly engaging training modules to its care coordinators, who, in turn, are responsible for making patients’ healthcare journey seamless.

Today, Pristyn Care is one of India’s few healthcare startups that has been swift in embracing tech advancements ranging from AI and ML-enabled diagnosis of patient reports to adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems and more.

In a bid to comprehend the transformation that the Indian healthtech ecosystem, especially startups, is going through to offer patients a seamless healthcare experience, we spoke with cofounder Singh, and here’s what he said.

Edited excerpts…

Inc42: Tell us about the technologies that have contributed to Pristyn Care’s success. How do they create a smooth patient experience?

Harsimarbir Singh: We have 40+ tech products for the end-to-end journey of patients. An average weekend sees 1,000+ patients walking in and out of OTs at 300+ hospitals in 30+ cities. We use a white-label approach to pass information across various stakeholders, including doctors, care coordinators and insurance teams. 

A patient is connected to a care coordinator who has their support data when they walk in. We have developed an AI and ML-enabled electronic medical record (EMR) system for surgeons and they can access patient data and know their medical history. It not only simplifies communication and accurate record-keeping but also improves healthcare delivery, identifying high-risk patients. The smart AI and ML systems also make recommendations to the doctors who suggest the appropriate diagnostic reports, surgery and medicine. 

We can inform the patient about the insurance coverage and deductions in various hospitals with 95% accuracy in 30 seconds, as opposed to 24 hours taken by the conventional system. Our tech platform also  helps us provide recommendations for hospital choices to patients. 

Inc42: What specific qualities and skills do you prioritise in tech talent? How do these align with the company’s overall vision and mission?

Harsimarbir Singh: We offer a steep learning curve and emphasise stability while hiring tech talent. We look for candidates who understand the urgency of the industry and can work outside of regular work hours to address emergencies and ensure patient data security. If a tech tool breaks on a Friday night, confidential data of patients will be at risk and we cannot wait till Monday to fix it. They must be willing to learn more. Our tech team is like a training school in modern technologies and industry intricacies for young talent. 

Inc42: Did you encounter any challenges or unexpected developments when building your tech ecosystem? How did you overcome them, and what did you learn from the experience?

Harsimarbir Singh: Building tech for experienced doctors is challenging. Most traditional hospitals lack modern-age technology beyond billing systems and apps. Not only do we have to build a tech ecosystem but also encourage tech adoption. 

Using AI in healthcare comes with its own set of challenges, including ensuring machine accuracy. Healthcare does not have standardised solutions, and there is a risk of human error. We have built and fine-tuned AI foundation models to cater to the massive population, speaking in several languages and dialects. 

Doctors in India face challenges with adopting electronic medical records due to language barriers. Still, a surge in online consultations during the pandemic led to a 75% increase in the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR). ChatGPT and the older foundational model also helped us eliminate errors that may occur due to the age and experience of doctors or human limitations. 

Inc42: How do you handle potential ethical concerns or unintended consequences from technology deployment? 

Harsimarbir Singh: We do an advanced level of pre-anaesthesia check at home. To ensure accuracy, our team calls the patient for an entire evaluation again. While facilitating insurance, there is a 5% error margin rate, which is communicated to the patients and deduction is waived if it happens. 

Our outreach team calls the discharged patients on the 3rd, 7th, 30th and 60th day to encourage free-of-cost follow-ups. We make a doctor’s job easy through recommendation engines, but the information only goes into the system when the doctor acknowledges it. 

Inc42: Please explain how MIRA.AI works and helps close the digital divide for patients, doctors and staff.

Harsimarbir Singh: Every time a new care coordinator comes in, we train them on several intricate topics. The content we create for this is massive. Currently, we have training material on 90+ disease types, over 50 surgeries and 50+ diseases with MIRA. The educators in MIRA look human-like. A reiteration evaluation tool reminds the care coordinators about the disease types periodically. 

Inc42: What are your thoughts on emerging technologies like GenAI and their potential impact on healthcare? 

Harsimarbir Singh: I am excited by Gen AI and foundational models and large action models. It’s difficult for a human being to grasp a patient’s genetic history in a 20-minute conversation. Though doctors will provide consultations, large language models or foundational AI will consider minute details of a patient’s living conditions to offer customised medication. 

Utilising a machine to analyse medical test results and make recommendations will boost the efficiency of diagnoses by 20X. It takes 20 years for a new drug to come into the market because clinical trials and processing could be faster. Machine learning and GenAI will cut the timeline by half. Suggestive machines for patient documentation will do away with several manual errors. 

Remote monitoring will also catch up. Training will also improve drastically, as we are already using MIRA. Soon, doctors will learn about modern technology in undergrad. Vision AI will allow them to interact with a trainer who’s a machine operating on an artificial patient. Doctors in developing nations like India will be able to receive training from experts at Johns Hopkins University without being physically present.