Pro Tip: Learn how to use HBI Alerts to follow your favorite topics

Procurement

 

Fraud police target private sector in Lombardy

In Italy, a corruption scandal in the region of Lombardy has exploded into the private healthcare sector. The Guardia di Finanza - the Ministry of Finance’s branch of the police force - is investigating staff and offices in private clinics in Varese, while in Milan regional director of healthcare services Carlo Lucchina has had his offices raided. Indictments handed down by the Italian courts have hit the heads of local Aziende Sanitari Locali (ASLs), the local-level purchasers of healthcare services, as well as clinic directors and politicians.

Radical reform to follow as Italy uncovers massive healthcare corruption

Accusations of corruption, inefficiencies and hidden agendas are rife in Italian healthcare. The president of Lazio region has been forced to step down following a scandal; the government of Lombardy, a key private-sector stronghold, has also been rocked by allegations. The media has hounded Mario Monti, forcing him to walk back pro-private sector statements. As a backdrop to all of this, Health Minister Renato Balduzzi’s spending cuts are ravaging the private hospital sector.

Italy socks private sector and shakes up procurement

Healthcare Europa can exclusively reveal a massive shake-up in Italian public-sector procurement. Meanwhile, national and regional governments have taken aim at the private hospital sector, with Lombardy planning to eliminate 1,800-2,400 private hospital beds.

RESAH plans pan-European buying for public sector

Réseau des acheteurs hospitaliers d’Ile de France (RESAH), the public-sector procurement organisation for the Paris region, is starting to research price differences across Europe with its counterparts. Carole Escurat, who is in charge of international cooperation, says that RESAH also plans to eventually join forces with regions outside France to buy medtech products.

FREE BLOG Shining a light on pricing

Few industries are as systemically inefficient as healthcare. So the news that people are finally comparing prices charged by medtech companies across different European countries is very welcome indeed, as is the news that the European Commission is about to start an investigation into fraud and mispricing within healthcare services.

Interview: Valerie Michie, managing director of healthcare services, Serco

How much and how far will the different NHSs in the UK go in outsourcing services to the private sector?  We talk to Valerie Michie, managing director of health services at Serco, which is running a pioneering community care project in Suffolk. Analysts reckon Serco has more than doubled its healthcare outsourcing since 2011, when it claimed a 5% share of a £2 billion market in health support services to the NHS in the UK. That market that is expected to double by 2015.

The East/West split in lab procurement

The big suppliers to private lab groups are offering Pan-East European deals but they are sticking their heels in in Western Europe. And big national price differences remain according to Vincent Marcel, the CFO of Labco and Philippe Ballero, CEO of Synevo, speaking at the Healthcare Europa conference....

HealthTrust Europe signs with Toyota

Healthcare procurement group HealthTrust Europe (HTE) has appointed Toyota Tsusho as its logistics partner. The company which is owned by HCA Hospitals and its large US procurement arm HealthTrust Purchasing Group (and so by KKR) has also launched CoreTrust Europe which provides procurement to KKR and Blackstone companies across Europe, such as Hilton Hotels and Alliance Boots and is interested in talking to other private equity-backed ventures. We talk to chief executive Jonathan Wedgbury....

Interview: Bradley Gould, managing director, Prospitalia

How is procurement changing in Europe? What are the real price differences? We talk to Bradley Gould, managing director at Prospitalia, one of the two largest German group purchasing organisations (GPO), which also has recently opened operations in Austria and the Netherlands...

Find Us