Practo Telemedicine Health Plans record 2.5x growth in six months

Launched early this year, Practo health plans have touched the lives of more than 1.2L people across individual and corporate customers, in this short span of time. The company is targeting a 10x growth in Plus subscribers over the next year.

While most of the health plan users are from metro cities like Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai, there has been a growth of 30x in the number of users from non-metro cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow. There are more than 20,000+ doctors from over 21 specialties on the Practo Plus health plan network. With an ETA of about 120 seconds, health plan patients get priority access, and can connect with doctors on text, call or video, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.

As people continue to take precautions to avoid infections and seek medical help to protect and improve their health, being able to consult doctors across 21+ specialties, upto 15 times a month, on Practo has been a real boon and offers a peace of mind. What makes these consultations even more effective is the continuity of care they afford by offering free follow-up consultations upto 3 days after the primary consultation.

Practo Plus Plan details:

These telemedicine plans come in monthly and half yearly subscriptions:

• INR 399/- per month allows a user to consult online with doctors across 20+ specialities, upto 15 times a month
• INR 1199/- 6 months (approx. 200 per month) allows a user to consult online with doctors across 20+ specialities, upto 15 times a month

Key Insights from health plans user behaviour from the last six months:

• Millennials account for 60% of the health plan users, majority of whom consult for the elders in the family
• The second most active user group include those who have chronic health conditions and those who live in remote locations
• The most consulted speciality include GP, Gynecology, Pediatrics, Dermatology, ENT and sexology, wherein a typical user consults these doctors upto four times a month
• Other top consulted specialties by health plan users include Mental health specialists
• On an average, a health plan user consults a doctor three times a month, as against a national average of three times a year (basis Practo Insights report from last year)
• Men and women user split stands at 75% vs 25% respectively
• Out of all the users, 50% users are new / first time users of telemedicine health plans

Siddhartha Nihalani, VP – Product Growth at Practo said, “It’s encouraging to see how patients are getting more and more aware and appreciative of this new way of accessing healthcare. What started with the outbreak is sure to shape the future of healthcare in the country. Awareness, access and quality are the three most important pillars for the success of teleconsultations. Health Plans are a great way of making telemedicine more mainstream, and we’re very bullish on both its relevance and growth, over the coming months and years.”

With contagious diseases like COVID-19 demanding social distancing, telemedicine has become one of the most viable solutions for obtaining quality healthcare. With the Government’s patronage and growing awareness among people from every part of the country, Indians are embracing telemedicine as the new way of life.“The pandemic is here to stay and it’s important we get used to the new normal. Technology is here for good, and will have a lasting impact on how we access healthcare. Seeking care is more important than ignoring symptoms and telemedicine opens the doors for doctor-patient interaction seamlessly from the comfort of one’s home”, said Prof Dr Supten Sarbadhikari, ex- Project Director, NHP and ex-Dean, IIHMR, currently on WHO Digital Health rooster.