Inflation hurting patients, but health of hospitals improves

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

ARPOB) per day and declining average length of stay (ALOS) of the patients. Improving operational performance have helped them gain valuations on the bourses.

For the patients, however, these parameters mean an increase in the cost of treatment — even on shorter hospital stays.
Medical inflation in India was estimated to be 14% in 2021 and continues to remain high post the pandemic. For instance, Apollo Hospitals, country's largest hospital chain, has posted steady increase in its ARPOB from ₹ 37,397 in FY20 to ₹57,760 for the first quarter of this fiscal. The company, in its June quarter earnings call, has held that it could sustain the improvement in ARPOB to ₹60,000 in the near term.

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The overall cost of hospitalisation has increased for the patients due to hospitals passing on the inflation in the raw material cost, medical devices, equipment and consumables as well as rise in the staff cost. Besides the overall medical inflation, the demand supply mismatch, rising insurance penetration and propensity to pay for high end quaternary care facilities have also led to the overall increase in ARPOB.
The change in the payer mix has also improved the ARPOB. This implies admitting more patients that are insured or self-paying rather than those seeking treatment under government schemes. According to a latest report on hospital sector by India Ratings and Research, the ARPOB has increased and remained higher than the pre-pandemic levels due to the higher occupancy rate, favourable change in payer mix (higher insurance