Digitising Health Financing Challenge

Through this program, they aim to identify innovative digital technologies with potential to create positive impact on national health financing systems and pilot their MVPs in selected developing member countries.

Some public health systems in Asia and the Pacific are facing challenges in achieving their goal of financing universal health coverage to increase access and affordability of quality healthcare for its population. Innovative startups can play a pivotal role in improving national health financing systems by offering their digital technology solutions to pilot test with government and industry players.

Target Areas

• Digital Payment
  • Challenges in digital health payments between patients, payors (like insurance companies), and healthcare providers:
    • Delayed Reimbursements: Reduce waiting times for healthcare providers to receive payments for services rendered;
    • Payment Reconciliation Challenges: Solve for difficulties in reconciling payments between different parties that lead to errors and disputes.
• Insurtech
  • Enabling simplified digital processes across the insurance value chain:
    • Streamlined Applications: Simplify lengthy, complex insurance application forms to attract more customers;
    • User-Friendly Comparisons: Aggregator platform for easy policy comparisons, and relevant gov’t schemes based on customer profile;
    • Efficient and Easy Claim Submissions: End-to-end digital process to submit and process claims which reduces time, and manual effort for customer and processing authorities.
• Access To Health Entitlements
  • Challenges related to ensuring government health schemes equitably reach everyone:
    • Equitable Access: Ensure government health schemes reach all, especially communities and target groups for whom the schemes are designed;
    • Barrier-Free Access: Remove geographic, infrastructure, and socio-economic barriers for universal healthcare access.
• Fraud Detection
  • Challenges centered on spotting and preventing fraud in healthcare:
    • Fraud Prevention: Mechanisms to prevent healthcare insurance fraud, minimizing financial losses and maintaining trust;
    • Phantom Billing: Solutions that can detect and deter phantom billing thus reducing resource drain, misuse and overall costs;
    • Identity Theft Protection: Create strategies and tech to safeguard personal information, preventing misuse in fraudulent claims.

Why should you participate in this challenge?

Selected teams will have access to a wealth of opportunities:

• Pilot Support
  • Two (2) innovative solutions will have the chance to work closely with ADB and government to design and implement a pilot gaining exposure and experience within interested developing member countries. These teams will receive diagnostics and validation during scaling up or demonstration of technology for the MVPs.
• Grant Support
  • The selected final startups will receive USD 20,000 grant funding from ADB.
  • Note: the milestones for disbursement will be determined based on the details pilot planning and will be agreed upon prior to pilot kickoff.
• Networking & Mentorship
  • Participants can access accelerators, domain experts, research organizations and broader DHF ecosystem stakeholders from the country where pilot will potentially be tested. These will include experts and mentors from ADB, the country governments, including corporates and technology firms among others.
• AWS Benefits For Startups
  • Selected final startups would receive AWS Activate credits, subject to the AWS Activate terms, that could be used for pilot projects arising from the Digitising Health Financing innovation challenge. Selected final startups could also receive technical mentorship from AWS, where necessary, for their pilot projects. Selected final startups could further take part in AWS activities and events with governments, VCs, startups across Asia Pacific.

Eligibility Criteria

This challenge in open to start-ups with technology solution from across the globe. Submitting teams may be composed of between 1-5 persons. The Challenge is also offered to:

• Startups/Technology Providers
• Corporate Partners

For more information, visit Asian Development Bank (ADB).