Asia’s amazing hospital recovery
Global strategy consulting firm L.E.K.’s special report “Hospital priorities: strategic implications and insights for healthcare providers” reveals promising trends for hospital recovery in key Asian markets. The full report is available online, but here are some highlights.
Click here to read the full report.
Volume recovery figures are eye-catching. The percentage of hospitals performing over 500 elective procedures annually has dramatically increased. In 2021, not even a quarter of hospitals achieved this in the five markets studied – however in 2023 50%+ of South East Asia (SEA) and South Korean hospitals did this – with Japan performing only slightly under with 48% of hospitals hitting the mark.
These three markets also saw the biggest improvement in volumes with SEA, Japan and South Korea seeing an improvement of 41, 38, and 26 percentage points respectively. Japan is particularly impressive given “elective procedures were heavily affected during the pandemic” and volumes are expected to increase even more in the coming year.
Meanwhile only 35% of South Korean respondents are reporting a return to Covid-19 levels.
The report states: “Most regions in APAC have demonstrated a strong recovery in elective procedures, with 80%-90% of respondents across regions reporting a return to pre-Covid-19 numbers across most surgery-focused departments. Overall, recovery has been strongest in long-term care, oncology, orthopaedics, post-acute care and OBGYN [obstetrics and gynaecology].”
Meanwhile the EBITDA of private hospitals looks set to improve over the next three years.
In South Korea, which has the highest proportion of unprofitable hospitals today (23%), respondents thought in three years 90% of hospitals will be profitable. All other markets also expect a rise in profitability.
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