Functional Fitness For Older Adults Through Preventative Care

Dr. Harsha Guduru shares how technology may be the answer to India’s growing geriatric population.

  1. Can you tell our audience about yourself?

I am a radiologist turned healthcare management professional and have worked in various roles in healthcare over the past decade. Since the past 5–6 years, geriatrics, especially preventable illnesses, have been an area of interest and passion for me. 

Like many Indian children, my grandparents have been a great source of inspiration and influence in my life. It troubled me that I had no control over their aging process.

The watershed phenomenon in rate of decline with age is an area I have been actively studying, researching and practicing in. 

Now my parents are also 60+ and they are required to be significantly more active. They take more care than the preceding generation of elders, ensuring functionality while growing old. 

How we cope with increased demands we place on our bodies and minds with each succeeding generation is something I am deeply passionate about.

  1. Can you tell our audience about Restory?

We are based out of Hyderabad, India. We are a year old and currently in our pilot phase. We have just finalised our tech stack and looking forward to a commercial launch in the next 2-3 months.

Restory is a geriatric healthcare technology company dedicated to helping people above the age of 50 lead a healthier lifestyle. Our  product offerings are designed to assess, monitor, and improve users’ health through a holistic and comprehensive approach.

 Our key services are:

  • MyHealthscore 
  • Pharmony
  • Activeage
  1. One of our flagship products is MyHealthScore, which combines medical and non-medical data to provide users with an accurate and comprehensive health assessment. By analyzing the data, MyHealthScore can identify areas where the user can improve their health, giving them the necessary tools to take action. Every algorithm used in MyHealthScore is based on a minimum of five to six peer-reviewed research papers focused on South-Asian demography with more than 10000 relevant and 30000 related peer reviewed papers used for developing the platform.
  1. In addition to MyHealthScore, Restory offers Pharmony, a service that performs a detailed pharmacological audit to ensure all medications taken by the user work well together. For individuals over the age of 60, who typically have multiple prescriptions from various specialists, Pharmony provides peace of mind by identifying potential drug interactions and ensuring that the user’s medications are optimized for their individual needs. The platform is designed in house for India’s system of prescription. We currently cover more than 95% of all allopathic drugs being prescribed and keep updating our databank regularly.
  1. Restory’s ActiveAge program is another product designed to help users stay functionally fit. The program is specifically tailored for people above the age of 55 and is designed to provide a functional workout without the use of special machines or facilities. By incorporating physical exercise into their daily routines, users can stay active and improve their overall health and wellbeing. 

Overall, Restory’s products and services are designed to help users lead healthier lives by identifying potential health issues, optimizing medication regimens, and promoting physical activity. 

Our primary goal is to improve quality of life in people above the age of 60 while reducing admissions due to preventable causes by 70%.

  1. What problem is Restory solving & how? 

People from a financially sound family usually have the privilege of retiring early, however people coming from middle class and lower-middle class families do not have the luxury to do so. 

Considering the shift towards an expensive lifestyle and growing healthcare costs in India, it is vital for an  average adult to stay functionally healthy till the age of 75.

However, the change in lifestyle and the reduction in the nutritional values in food has resulted in an unpredictable decline in the quality of life after the age of 55.

The target market for Restory is the middle-income and above consumers in India between the age of 50 to 75 years. 

  • In 2020, the population aged 50+ years in India was 26.8 crores
  • The population aged 75+ years in India was 2.84 crores
  • This brings the population between 50 -75 years to 24 crores
  • 30% of the population fall under the annual household income bracket of INR 5 – 30 Lakhs
  • This brings the serviceable population to around 7.2 crore people

Macroeconomic Trends affecting Restory:

Growing rate of elderly population in India: India is currently one of the youngest countries in the world, however, the proportion of the elderly population is expected to increase from 8.6% in 2011 to 12.5% in 2030. This is expected to increase to about 20% in 2050 and more than 25% in 2061. 

Rising Middle-Class Population: India’s middle-class population (INR 5L – 30L) is the fastest growing demographic group. The middle-class population is expected to increase from 30% of the total population in 2020 to 47% of the total population by 2030.

Rising Disposable Income: The net national disposable income in India is expected to rise from $2.26 trillion in 2020 to $3.9 trillion in 2026. An increase in disposable income level is indicative of higher affordability of the services rendered.

Growing Rate of Urban Population in India: The urban population ratio is expected to grow from 35% in 2020 to more than 40% in 2030. The growing urban population indicates higher access to technology and services.

Restory’s vision is to transform the geriatric healthcare industry by becoming a one-stop-shop for all healthcare needs. We plan to achieve this by introducing a range of innovative products and services that cater specifically to the needs of older adults. 

This includes expanding our offerings to include pharmaceutical e-commerce, nutraceutical products, healthcare IOT devices, tele-consultation, and insurance, all tailored towards the geriatric population. Restory’s vision is to create a seamless healthcare experience for older adults by leveraging technology and expertise to provide personalized care and support. 

By offering a comprehensive suite of products and services, Restory aims to become the go-to destination for geriatric healthcare, providing peace of mind and improving the quality of life for older adults.

  1. What have been the biggest achievements of Restory? 

We are very proud of the team we have built and the partnerships we have made with our pilot group of patients

With more than 50 people now with us for 6 months we have seen significant improvement and impact of our services on their quality of life and biochemical status. 

We are bootstrapped till now and will be for a few more months. We have been fortunate that our pilot work is helping us fund our overheads and capex is still the area the founders are investing in.

We are yet to be in a revenue soliciting phase but since our 1st paid patient 4 months ago we have been growing at 70-80% MoM. However, it is essential to note that we have a small denominator and are completely organic. Upon commencing commercial operations in the next 2-3 months we anticipate to grow 300-500% MoM for the 1st 6 months and subsequently taper to 40-50% MoM growth for the first 24 months. 

Hiring: We are a team of 9 people with 70% women.

  1. What have been the biggest challenges for Restory & how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge has always been technology. The 1st principles we have outlined involve 4 core tenets for technology:

  • Should be device independent or platform independent
  • Cost of service should be under Rs 365 a year
  • No learning curve 
  • Should scale up and be safe

Being a medical professional I would say finalising the tech stack and wading through a literal million solutions we are very proud to have found a solution that adheres to all the above. We provide service through whatsapp removing the necessity to download or install a dedicated app. Most of our target audience are well versed with it and can be easily adapted to languages of choice. It is also linked to an authenticated mobile number.

  1. What are you most excited about in healthcare at present? How do you anticipate healthcare will change in the next 5 years?

Technology both in the form of hardware and software is changing the way healthcare is addressed both at acute and chronic levels. Covid-19 was a pivoting moment in tech adoption by patient and physician communities and continues to grow at a pace that has been unprecedented. What I am looking forward to now is the interoperability of platforms and solutions to offer true democratization of healthcare by offering the patient option to choose what is suitable for them rather than limited to what their physician or device manufacturer offers.

Wellbeing is the core of what we do. Preventive care is still in its infancy and we are happy to be at the forefront of this change. It is a hardcoded belief at Restory that hospitals are meant for critical care or surgeries and 70% of admissions in elderly can be prevented through preventive care and early risk identification and mitigation.

In the next 5 years we envisage that technology will help reduce the overwhelming burden on healthcare resources in India and mindset of people will slowly change from seeing healthcare as an expenditure to seeing it as an investment. The rigors we place on our body and mind for a given age bracket today are 2-3 times what they were 3 decades ago, and we should suitably and quickly adapt to recognizing and managing the same so that quality of life becomes better. Healthcare traditionally has been about quantity of life ahead of quality of life, and we have to address that to have larger implications in our growth as population and challenges of modern living such as chronic NCD’s like diabetes/lipid dysregulation and more importantly mental health related concerns.

In this context one key change needed is destigmatizing of mental health issues and treating them on par with any NCD’s.

  1. What are your favorite educational resources, and how have they influenced you?

There are 100’s of resources we use but from a startup perspective I have always found comfort in re-reading Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things. This helps me align myself whenever the going gets tough or not according to plan.

To be honest there are too many resources that we use and democratization of knowledge through twitter and youtube has been one of the greatest sources of knowledge and guidance for us.

Twitter is a space we are finding especially helpful with ability to hear thought leaders and find crucial information that we would otherwise never hear of.

  1. Do you have any other key messages for the audience?

We hope to be able to a follow on in a year with more published successes and achievements for Restory.in once we do our commercial launch.

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