Eka Care
Eka Care is harnessing generative AI
In a country of over a billion people, Eka Care is harnessing generative AI to tackle one of India's most pressing challenges: the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
With doctors overwhelmed by patient loads and administrative tasks, and millions of patients lacking access to their own health data, India's healthcare system stands at a critical juncture. Eka Care recognized an opportunity to use generative AI as an ‘intelligence’ to transform the healthcare system for doctors and patients.
A New Era of Doctor-Patient Engagement
In India's dynamic healthcare landscape, doctors often manage over 100 patients a day. Eka Care observed that administrative burdens further reduced patient interaction to just 3 minutes per patient, leading to inefficiencies in treatment.
Eka Care envisioned a digital solution called Eka Doc to streamline patient management. Doctors could easily access and update medical histories, diagnoses, and treatments, saving valuable time.
Additionally, the company has facilitated digital prescriptions through the innovative ‘voice to RX’ solution, and integrated billing management into the solution. Eka Care aimed to enhance decision-making further by incorporating advanced analytics and reporting on patient data. This integration provided doctors with real-time insights to make informed decisions and elevate care quality for millions.
“Doctors have clearly told us they want to spend more time with their patients and not on administrative work,” said Sahni. “Using the generative AI tools we have built, we have been able to give doctors more time with their patients.”
At the patient level, Eka Care has developed a Personal Health Record (PHR) app. With the app, patients now gain easy access to their vital health data, supporting them in making informed and real time decisions about their health on a daily basis.
Transforming Unstructured Medical Data into Actionable Insights
To deliver AI-driven healthcare solutions, Eka Care had to overcome two primary challenges.
The first was processing significant amounts of unstructured medical data efficiently. The fragmented nature of medical records and patient consultations made it difficult for healthcare professionals to quickly extract useful insights, limiting their focus on patient care. Eka Care needed a solution that could simplify data management and deliver real-time, usable information.
The second was ensuring compliance and security in a rapidly evolving digital healthcare landscape. The company had to adhere to strict healthcare regulations while scaling for widespread use.
Partnering with AWS to create better Health outcomes
Eka Care turned to AWS to scale its AI-driven healthcare solutions, providing real-time insights for doctors and patients.
The company developed new solutions such as Eka Doc, DocAssist and Voice2RX to improve efficiency, using HAQM Bedrock, a fully managed service that helps developers build and run generative AI applications with pre-trained models.
Eka Care also deployed HAQM Transcribe, an AI-powered service that converts speech into text, to enhance its Voice2RX tool. With this integration, doctors could quickly and accurately transcribe doctor-patient conversations into structured notes. This enhancement reduced administrative tasks, so doctors could focus more on diagnosing and treating patients, leading to better health outcomes.
“The developer experience for us was a game changer. In generative AI, it’s important to experiment fast,” said Sahni. “When we moved to HAQM Bedrock, we not only saw reduced error rates, we now have the agility and flexibility to experiment with multiple models easily.”
Prioritizing patient data protection was non-negotiable for Eka Care. Using AWS allows Eka Care to leverage AWS’s HIPPA compliant services and ensures that all data complies with India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act guidelines for handling sensitive medical information.
Shaping the Future of Healthcare with Generative AI
Eka Care envisions generative AI transforming healthcare in three key areas: enhancing the understanding of complex medical data; providing real-time support to doctors through intelligent automation; and empowering patients to better manage their health and healthcare costs.
Looking ahead, Eka Care aims to expand its generative AI solutions to further support healthcare professionals and patients. By revolutionizing how healthcare is delivered, especially through digital innovations, the company seeks to address the chronic disease crisis and shape a healthier future for millions across India.
“Generative AI will change three things fundamentally for health. One is understanding of data which is paramount when it comes to any kind of a situation, be it payments through insurance or understanding patients for a better outcome. The second is there will be new assistant to the doctors that’ll be built. And last not least, the technology will empower the patient to take control their health to eventually get to that better health outcome” said Sahni.
