Comparing the COVID impact on for-profit healthcare by sub-sector
As we near the end of 2020, HBI compares pre- and post-COVID forecasts for sub-sector growth across EMEA to assess which ones were most and least affected.
The chart below compares how much HBI revised its 2020 growth forecasts over the course of the pandemic for several of the 20 sectors covered in HBI Intelligence. A full version of this chart, as well as sub-sector versions with country-specific figures, with data points will be revealed at our upcoming virtual conference on December 14-17.
The results may not surprise you. Revenue growth for digital health players was already forecast to grow in the mid-double-digits but has doubled as healthcare providers have gone online. Growth in the lab sector, although wildly different across geographies, is nominally ahead of where we thought we’d be at the beginning of the year. Dialysis, a life-saving publicly-funded treatment, remains stable.
The same cannot be said for hospitals. Revenue drops of 50-70% in some geographies has demonstrated how far some providers have in moving up the acuity ladder to treatments which cannot as easily be postponed by providers or patients. Nursing home occupancy also fell sharply during the pandemic has families proved reluctant to send loved ones to facilities.
The impact from lockdowns on outpatient care needs no explanation. A surprise loser is teleradiology, whose elective volumes plummeted as public sector radiologists cleared reporting lists for the first time ever.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Cameron Murray or call 0207 183 3779.
