Our mission is to empower people to take control of their health by leveraging cutting-edge technology to ensure they’re on the right track to a financially secure future!
Tell us more about Fedo HSA?
Fedo Health Savings Account (HSA) is a unique savings account that enables you to face tomorrow’s unknowns with today’s savings. Unlike the existing system which provides a plain vanilla savings and insurance product, Fedo HSA combines AI driven health risk prediction with flexible, personalised savings options to the end customer so that they are aware of their risks and start saving/ getting covered for the same. With the health of a nation depending on its citizens having access to an equitable, affordable, and accountable healthcare system, Fedo HSA aims to help people to prepare for the healthcare needs of tomorrow by making smart decisions about health care finances today.
What was the rationale while designing this product?
It is an unfortunate reality for many households in India that the cost of medical expenses must be borne by them. Desperation leads them to borrowing money from local money lenders at exorbitant interest rates or selling property and assets—plunging such people deeper into financial hardships and bankruptcies. The out-of-pocket expense in India is around 62.6% of the total healthcare expenditure which is the highest in the world. Last year itself 55M families in India went bankrupt due to medical expenses.
Fedo HSA also allows you to manage/reduce your health risks by connecting to the right healthcare partners.
Not just one time touch point at the incident Fedo provides dedicated, ongoing support and education at every step, to help each HSA member reach its maximum potential with minimal governance. Through Fedo HSA, we aim to eliminate the hassles faced by consumers at the time of hospitalization, enabling insurers to enhance their value proposition and opening up new revenue streams for banks.
As an individual, how can I go about getting Fedo HSA?
All individuals are eligible to open a Health Savings Account (HSA). The entire journey is digital and is integrated with mobile applications & net banking as well.
How do you define the insurance and credit limit for any individual?
The insurance and credit limit for any individual will be determined by the Fedo Score, a credit score for health like a CIBIL Score in the financial world, and the health risks predicted. This prediction of health risk of an individual will give the probable medical costs that the person might incur in future.
While you have now partnered with Open, any more partnerships in the pipeline?
We have launched the Fedo HSA with SBM and Open along with three major Insurance companies. While we in process of adding couple of more banks and a major card network in the next quarter, we are also in final stages of discussion on potential partnership with one of the largest healthcare provider networks.
What are your funding and expansion plans?
Last November, Fedo received USD 1 million in seed funding from Unicorn India Ventures and the SEA Fund. In 2021, we acquired two new insurance firms in India, as well as consumers in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. In cooperation with Neobank Open and the State Bank of Mauritius, we have created India’s first-of-its-kind ‘Health Savings Account,’ named
Fedo HSA. With the introduction of Fedo HSA, which is built directly into the Fedo platform, we aim at enabling our clients to manage health spending in a smooth and future-proof manner.
What are your predictions for the healthcare sector in the year 2022? What will be the possible trends?
The year 2022 will be the year of health and disease diagnostics. We have witnessed significant changes with remote patient care and telemedicine category adding significant value to the healthcare system during the pandemic. Going forward, the market will be dominated by a new class of non-invasive, faster, and more effective diagnostic tools that gather vital signs in real-time. The focus will be on predictive and preventive healthcare. Physicians and patients will adopt technology in healthcare at a faster rate in 2022 as a result of these changes.
The use of Data Analytics to hasten biotechnology modernization, Data governance and orchestration, Consumer-Focused Digital Care Solutions, and the increasing use of wearable technology will be some of the top trends that will revolutionize healthcare shortly.
Finding more consumer-focused hybrid solutions will allow telemedicine to become more mainstream and boost consumer access. Keeping in line with these changing trends, FEDO strives to implement future-oriented solutions for our customers. Our HSA offers tax-advantaged accounts and services to assist employers in better managing health insurance costs, providing more depth and flexibility in benefit packages, and encouraging people to live healthier lifestyles.
Additionally predictive medicine could also benefit from data analytics, with the use of AI to evaluate tests and medical records and track the effects of different medicines on groups of patients over time. Many firms have challenges in making AI practical, but with the proper partners and regulatory knowledge, progress may be made by 2022.
In terms of healthcare infrastructure, where does India stand?
The global healthcare infrastructure has been decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic, even the most industrialized countries have struggled to meet expanding healthcare demands. Since India is a developing country, the majority of the population relies on government facilities for healthcare.
This pandemic bought out the real picture of India’s current healthcare infrastructure. According to Human Development Report 2020, India has around 5 beds for 10,000 people, ranking India 155th in bed availability out of 167 countries. There are 1.34 doctors for 1000 people in India. Hence, here is a huge and urgent need to simplify and bridge the financial gap between insurance policy coverage and hospitalization charges in India, where over 55 million households are nearing insolvency due to hospitalization expenses. This would improve the value offer for both insurance and banks, while also addressing the requirements of customers with empathy.
As India continues to grapple with the Covid pandemic, investments in digital healthcare tools and individualized home care will become prevalent in India in 2022. Around 80% of healthcare systems plan to boost their investment in digital healthcare tools in the next five years, according to a recent study. Also, another research report states that India’s healthcare business will be worth $372 billion by 2022. It is hopeful to note that new healthcare equipment and services have begun to rule the market, due to the advances harnessing recent technology such as AI/ML, and the future seems bright.
What products are in the pipeline of Fedo?
Recently we have announced the launch of India’s First Health Savings Account in collaboration with Neo Bank Open. Our HSA enables customers to plan for their future healthcare needs by making informed financial decisions today. It will offer a combined account that helps consumers meet their required spending by combining smart savings, insurance, and a line of credit, all of which are packed in a powerful savings account that comes with a health credit/debit card with rich health benefit features and rewards.
One of the most important benefits of owning this account is the investment component option. This option could help people build their balance, so they are better prepared to pay for eligible medical expenses when they arise—this year, next year, or even in retirement, when they’ll likely have greater healthcare costs and less income.
With technology and innovation at the core, we are highly ambitious with our upcoming launch Video to Vitals this year. The product will capture the vital signs of a user from a video and provide accurate health assessment results within a short time. It helps people to identify the blood pressure, understand the heart rate oxygen saturation level, haemoglobin levels, and random blood sugar through a 40 seconds’ video.
What major developments are lined up for the year 2022?
We are currently concentrating our efforts on our newly launched product, the Health Savings Account (HSA). This year, we’ll also launch our Life Insurance UW module in collaboration with one of the world’s leading insurance firms. We’ve also successfully introduced our Video to Vitals product in the Southeast Asian and African regions.
Our mission is to empower people to take control of their health by leveraging cutting-edge technology to ensure they’re on the right track to a financially secure future!
Source: Business World
