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healthi is one India’s fastest growing digital preventive health start-ups, which empowers its users to make smart choices regarding their health. The company was founded by Krishna Ulagaratchagan and Rekuram Varadharaj (RV), both of whom are management graduates. Combining scientifically validated predictive analytics, machine learning technology, contemporary design, and strong partnerships with healthcare majors and cutting-edge research, healthi is revolutionizing the preventive healthcare market. It has made significant strides within a short span and now serves users in over 130 Indian cities. Rekuram Varadharaj, Co-Founder and COO, healthi, spoke to BE’s Anustup Roy Barman regarding his vision for the company.

Q. Please tell us about healthi and the services it offers.

A. As  with  most  innovations,  healthi  was  born  out  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  status  quo.  With  healthi,  the  user  embarks  on  a  personalized  and  comprehensive  preventive  health journey,  which  begins  with  a health  check-up. It helps users choose the most suitable health  packages available at leading providers. It provides easy-to-understand and comprehensive report to the user so that they may seek  expert  help and guidance from  practitioners  and  specialists  after  understanding  their health  status.  In short, healthi  is a one-stop digital preventive health guide that conveniently provides access to the best  healthcare practitioners and raises awareness about the prevention and management of
lifestyle diseases.

Q. What are the various health check-ups that healthi offers? How affordable are these?

A. Users find it difficult to choose and compare various packages to zero in on an appropriate package for health check-up, given the various options available at hospitals and diagnostic centres. Therefore,  they  end  up  choosing  a package  simply  by  the price  and  number  of  tests  at  the  first  venue  they  walk  into. Subsequently,  they  end  up  buying  additional  tests,  which were  not included in the original package.

To address this issue, healthi uses sophisticated technology and analytics to recommend the most appropriate package
to a user that fully addresses his/her needs. healthi calls this feature ‘healthi Smart Select’. healthi's package recommendations  have  been  validated  by  leading  medical professionals. healthi’s recommendations  are  available  at  many  leading  providers  across  India at  attractive  discounts, backed by a price match guarantee, ensuring that the user gets the best value for packages that have been tailored to his/her needs. In  addition  to  the  customized  package  recommendations,  users  can  also  find  a  wide  range  of health  check-ups  that  are  age,  gender  specific  or address  specific  needs.

Q. Which are the most common diseases affecting people according to data coming from the health check-ups?

A. While heart disease gets the most attention in India, the rate of prevalence of anaemia, diabetes, and high blood pressure are also high among Indians and consequently deserve more attention. We  also  find  that  more  needs to be  done to  ensure  women’s  health. Detection and prevention of cervical and breast cancer need urgent attention.

Q. healthi  has  a  feature  wherein  a  person  can  be  recommended  the  tests  he/she  needs  to undergo out of 9,676,800 package options. What tools and technology are being employed in that?

A. healthi has developed scientifically validated Intellectual Property (IP) around chronic disease risk prediction models and analytics. healthi has used such predictive analytics, personalization algorithms and machine learning  models  to  improve  healthcare  outcomes  for  employees  in many leading companies in India. The same big data models and predictive analytics have been used as a foundation to personalize a health check from among 9.7 million options. The aim of this feature is to fully address a user’s unique needs and also deliver best value in the process.

Q. Preventive healthcare is yet to gain ground in India. How is healthi working in that direction?

A. Disease prevention and wellness begin with awareness. healthi has teamed  up  with industry experts and leading brands  to  provide personalized health check-ups  that  are  customized  to each  individual’s unique  needs. Post the health check-up, healthi’s comprehensive and simple reports enable the users to understand their health status with ease.

Q. How do healthi's master check-up and complete check-up services differ from each other?

A. The master check-up differs from the complete check-up in the focal areas. The master check-up concentrates purely on the kidney profile, lipid profile, and liver profile tests with a physical evaluation of blood pressure, pulse rate, and waist-to-hip ratio. The complete check-up offers a more comprehensive set of  tests  that  evaluate  the  current health of the individual. In particular, the Complete check-up offers tests to screen for Hepatitis B, Vitamin B 12 deficiency, thyroid, fatty livers, kidney stones  and  additional cancer screening parameters.

Q. How  does  healthi  ensure  that  its  team  members  are  keeping  up  with  the  continual advances in medical technology?

A. healthi brings together a team of  highly  qualified and experienced  professionals who have worked in healthcare and  technology,  including  biostatistics, population  health, analytics and machine learning among others. Healthi is  also fortunate to count among its advisors, leading global  authorities in preventive healthcare and healthcare IT. The team and advisors ensure that we’re abreast of the trends in digital preventive health. In order to keep abreast of the continual advances in medical  technology, healthi also has a research partnership with the Government of India on the efficacy of chronic disease prediction models.