Optimization of health care expenditures to maximize societal value

-
Investigator: Dhruv Kazi, MD, MSc, MS

Location(s): India

Description

Health economists in global health are keenly aware of resource scarcity, and the struggle to define the “best” use for resources. My research focuses on the drivers that are considered when ‘best use' is defined. While directives and funds flow from the top, creative ways to enhance productivity (synergies within the system or using low-cost technologies), are most effectively explored grassroots-up. This dichotomy, and how it is resolved within medical systems is a source of fascination.

Cost effective diagnostic tech and cardiology met when I co-founded heartMAP – a low-cost, data-driven program focused on improving medication adherence among low-literacy patients with advanced cardiovascular disease. heartMAP harnesses technology and real-time data analysis to treat and track patients on anticoagulation, using incentives for stakeholder behavior modification. We are partnering with Narayana Hospitals in Bangalore, India, a pioneer in using industrial systems design to dramatically reduce the cost of cardiovascular surgery, and the Center for Chronic Disease Control in New Delhi, India’s leading private-public partnership for research in non-communicable diseases.