Healthcare startup Practo has announced the launch of its Practo Trinity platform, which partners with ICICI Lombard to offer an out-patient insurance (also referred to as OPD insurance) service. This is done through a new app called IL Take Care, which uses Practo’s platform to book medical appointments, file claims, order medicines, order tests, view reports and schedule tests.
The app uses Practo’s network of doctors, profiles of its hundreds of thousands of users and an infrastructure created by Practo to manage the exchange of information like prescriptions and bills.
Out-patient care insurance
Out-patient insurance or OPD insurance allows insured individuals to pay claims for doctor appointments, prescription medicines and other “out of hospital claims”. This type of insurance is relatively new and limited in India due to lack of verifiable medical history and records of patients.
While cashless and paperless visits are possible at hospitals Practo aims to bring the same experience to consumers visiting neighbourhood clinics and doctors on its platform.
Shashank ND, founder and CEO of Practo, told NDTV Gadgets360, “You can go to the ICICI Lombard app, our app, or directly to the clinic and present yourself as a policy holder, and the doctor if he’s using our software, will be able to validate whether it’s a genuine patient or not. Apart from which, the doctor will be able to then provide the entire analysis of his diagnosis, and we will immediately share this information with the insurance companies, and settle it real time.”
So basically, Patients insured under relevant policies from ICICI Lombard taking service from a doctor or a medical establishment on the Practo platform will be able to make use of this solution.
Expanding the service
However, Practo hinted that ICICI Lombard is just the first partner for the platform, Shashank told NDTV Gadgets360 that more services would be added in the future. “ICICI Lombard is one of the largest general insurance companies in India, and their experience in the insurance spaces well known,” he told Gadgets360. “I see them as a very good thought leader in the industry. But we are a platform, and we are interested in serving all touchpoints of the consumer.”
Last year, the company had raised $55 million in a series D round of funding led by Tencent and participation from ur-Net, RSI Fund, Thrive Capital and existing investors Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners, Capital G, Altimeter Capital & Sofina.