Features

 

Special report: How to meet the workforce challenge

With a global workforce shortage estimated by the WHO to reach 18 million by 2030, workforce has never been more top of mind for health care service operators be they hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient networks, diagnostic labs/imaging or homecare players. And COVID-19 will have a further enormous impact.

“Green Hospitals”: marketing spiel or strategic advantage?

As climate concern grows and the business world responds, energy-efficiency and sustainability have become strategic priorities for some private hospital operators, helping them win business, cut costs and arguably increase quality through "green hospitals", they claim. But internationally, incentives are a very mixed picture and those cutting emissions fastest are not where you might think.

Filling an empty shift at short notice: disrupting agencies

Temporary agencies are expensive. Hiring a doctor through one in the UK can cost the NHS around €170 per shift and in Germany, the bill for a nurse comes in at anywhere between €70-€140. A handful of start-ups across Europe are deploying solutions to disrupt agencies and breakdown workforce silos. HBI looks at three - in the UK, France and Germany - to assess how the market is changing.

How do you solve the Belgian bed problem?

Belgium's three regions have vastly different occupancy rates when it comes to nursing home beds. Would pan-European policy favouring the free movement of retirees be a way to lessen waiting lists by funnelling them toward markets more able to house them? We ponder the question with founder and managing director of Belgian real-estate advisory firm Anixton.

Debts stacking up for NHI schemes

Nearly three years after the CEO of Ghana's National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) declared it "almost bankrupt", its President claims that his party has cleared the GHS1.2bn ($200m) debt. The country isn't alone in having stacked up debt: HBI looks at the arrears of NHI schemes across emerging markets.

“Pens down” on UK deals before election

From psychiatric provider Priory Group, to nursing home group Four Seasons and PE-backed homecare company City & County Healthcare, HBI hears UK deals are off the cards until political certainty can be restored. We speak to advisers and enquire on the status of deals that could go ahead in the new year.

Five things we learnt at the Budapest Private Health Forum

This week HBI attended Portfolio's private healthcare forum in Budapest. We got an update on the country's ongoing insurance reform, the latest consolidation efforts and limp towards digitalisation. Here are our key takeaways: 

How insurers are delivering preventative care through tech

HBI speaks to Hong-Kong-based insure tech startup CareVoice about how its solution supports insurers to deliver more bespoke plans in China, following its $10m Series A. As most global insurers are trying to pivot from being gatekeepers to caregivers, can solutions that provide preventative support help?

Integrated healthcare: What works, what doesn’t

What is integrated health care as practiced today in Europe? What can it deliver? And what are the barriers to its adoption>?  We look at the lessons from three large projects that have all run for over a decade - The Wigan Deal (UK), Tiohundra (Sweden) and Kinzigtal/OptiMedis (Germany). All three will present at the HBI Policy Summit, April 20-22, 2020, London. 

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