Policybazaar’s parent firm eyes 25% stake in PB Healthcare; to invest Rs 860 cr for establishing hospitals, ET HealthWorld
New Delhi: PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar, has announced a significant investment of Rs 860 crore for a 25% stake in PB Healthcare.
The new venture will focus on setting up hospitals with a capacity of 1,000 beds within its first year, with a goal to offer managed healthcare services to policyholders.
PB Healthcare aims to revolutionise healthcare by ensuring treatment without pre-authorisation, zero rejections, and completely cashless services for its customers.
Yashish Dahiya, co-founder and CEO of PB Fintech, spoke about the challenges of rising healthcare costs, which are expected to escalate with advancements in medical technologies such as robotic surgery and the growing corporatisation of hospitals.
“Affordability is going to be a big challenge going forward… the way to solve this problem is for the insurance companies to have their own partnerships. Today, when a company has 14,000 network partners, it cannot control their behaviour,” Dahiya said.
Initially, PB Healthcare will establish its hospitals around the National Capital Region (NCR) before expanding to other regions across India. The company is adopting a model similar to the integrated healthcare and insurance system of the US-based Kaiser Permanente.
While it draws inspiration from Dr. Devi Shetty’s Narayana Health Insurance, PB Healthcare will serve policyholders from various insurance companies rather than issuing policies itself.
Additionally, the model will feature a team of general practitioners who will not receive any referral fees, ensuring a more transparent approach to healthcare delivery.
(With inputs from ToI)
