MassGen Hospital to enter India?

This recent story carried by Economic Times caught my attention.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News-by-Industry/Hindujas-scout-for-hospital-JV-partner/articleshow/4835610.cms

To me this is a sign of the times ahead. As the purchasing power of the Indian middle class improves and insurance penetration increases, we will see more US based healthcare players look at India as a destination for expansion.

For these players the revenues from operations in India may not a huge impact on the top line in dollar terms. However this could be seen as a medical tourism play and/or a pilot project to test out the Indian market. Though several US based payers have started to push medical tourism packages in India, the perception of quality has been an obstacle to adoption of India as a healthcare destination by employee unions,thus slowing the momentum. Mass Gen may be able to break those perception barriers and channel patients to its Indian venture. The other possibility is for MassGen to recruit high value patients for its centers in the US.


For the Indian healthcare industry, this could be turn to be an inflection point. Indian healthcare providers deliver some of the best quality care in the region. However there is potential to adopt better management practices and technology in the hospitals.

The arrival of competition would definitely change the healthcare delivery model in India.