TECH THERAPY 

Brijraj (Vaghani) Bhuptani’s Spry Movement is upending the physical rehabilitation space with a signature blend of passion, technology and purpose. 

MEET THE LEADER

Brijraj (Vaghani) Bhuptani is the Co-Founder and CEO of Spry Movement: A Digital Health Platform democratizing access to Movement Health. 

GENESIS AND JOURNEY

We flag off the session with an enquiry about how it all started for Mr. Bhuptani. The inveterate Founder shares…
“I am a serial entrepreneur with a knack to solve tackle difficult problems and converting them to business opportunities. Currently, I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Spry Movement - which is a purpose built platform for the physical rehabilitation industry. Prior to Spry Movement, I was the Chief Technology Office of the Ola mobility business. I became part of Ola when my previous startup Ridlr was acquired by Ola in 2018. Ridlr was one of the biggest mass transit platforms in India, we pioneered live traffic information in India cities and also mobile ticketing for unreserved travel. On a personal front I live in Mumbai with my wife, my two kids and my mom.”

DEFINING MANTRA

Leaders are defined by the power of their ideas and concept which shape and influence their journey. We wonder - what is the one big idea, concept or philosophy that captures Brijraj’s approach to life and his success mantra? The man who leads by the force of ideas responds succinctly…

“People should have the freedom to move without restrictions. When movement happens, mobility happens good things happen in the world.”

STUMBLING UPON THE GAP

So how did his philosophy evolve into the unstoppable ‘Force of Change’ that it is today? What were the triggers and influences that gave it momentum and shape along the way? We dig in further, and Mr. Bhuptani obliges reflectively…

“I have been a weekend sportsman most of my life and have had my share of injuries. I have been fortunate enough to have had On-Demand access to the best of care via a phone, WhatsApp and video call through my sister who is one of the best Sports Physicians in India. 

My sister, at the time, was using a rather basic combination of softwares and spreadsheets to manage patient and business data, but I realized that it was sub-optimal and acting as a deterrent to unleashing her true potential. Indeed, during the lockdown as demand and engagement increased, things became virtually unmanageable.

Switching between different softwares, excel sheets and data sets became untenable. Patients were also demanding more time and could not be served in the best possible way .

I suggested a computer vision program to my sister. The program would be integrated with information from her existing softwares and populated adherence data back. This is where I dug deeper and realized that the information is all over and without any structure. 

I spoke to a few more physios across different cohorts in India and discovered the same challenges (multiple softwares and excel sheets) everywhere. One sport clinic in India was using Asana to hand over patient from one physio to another.

Using my sisters contacts and my personal network, I spoke to many therapists in UK, South Africa and US. In USA, the problem was bigger since one had to account for insurance nuances as well. PTs were using a software for practice management, one for billing, another for patient collections, one more for content. And most did not have anything for patient connect or engagement.

SOLVING FOR EFFICIENCY AND BRIDGING THE LACUNA

The hallmark of a true entrepreneur is smart and agile, and that is exactly how Brijraj (Vaghani) Bhuptani took on the challenge. He continues…

“Connecting all the dots and keeping patient centricity in mind, it seemed to me that building a single, unified platform to manage the end-to-end lifecycle of patient treatment seemed like a good problem to solve.” 

That decision laid the foundation for a rewarding transformational arc, over the course of which Mr. Bhuptani combined intuition, vision and operational excellence to ‘create a ding’ in the status-quo. It also saw Spry Movement – his Digital Health Platform – truly come into its own, as it climbed from strength to strength democratizing healthcare access. The rest, as they say, is history. 

THE NEXT BIG MILESTONE

So what lies ahead for the idea champion? What are the big goals he wants to address and crack going forward -powered by his proprietary ‘mantra’? Mr. Bhuptani confides…

“Globally, more than 2.4 billion people are currently living with a health condition that benefits from rehabilitation. Despite this demand, there is a severe shortage of providers, with only 1.6 million practitioners available to treat this massive population. This gap is even starker in middle-and-low income groups, with up to 65 percent of individuals ignoring rehab treatments due to time scheduling and insurance coverage issues. Our vision is to enable the physical rehabilitation providers with platforms which helps them provide care to all the people who need it while enjoying the process of doing so. 

We plan to achieve it by integrating all the spokes - workflows, streamlined care coordination, seamless integration with digital health tools, automating back office and improved patient adherences – by leveraging Computer Vision based remote monitoring and quality content.”

We are confident that Mr. Bhuptani’s conviction and passion will propel him towards his summit well ahead of time, and we wish him all success. 

A WORD ABOUT VOH 

A short session – but one that’s high on energy, positivity and learnings – is drawing to a close. We conclude by requesting Mr. Brijraj (Vaghani) Bhuptani for his views on Voice of Healthcare. The leader delights us by generously obliging… 

“We often hear then Medical Professionals are superheroes without capes. There is some phenomenal work happening in India healthcare for India and for the world. These stories need to be told and celebrated. VOH is the right platform to celebrate these unsung heroes.”

*This story is published by VOH team.*