Today’s pursuit of robust, efficient, sustainable health systems centres around three words. Partner. Innovate. Build. And that’s why these are at the heart of the agenda for HBI 2023, June 19-21 in London the must-attend healthcare services conference in London next year

Partnerships are increasingly important to the future of healthcare as groups of all flavours can leverage the expertise of others, share clinical and non-clinical data, tap into efficiencies and streamline costs and processes, maintaining or in many cases improving quality. For some groups like University Hospitals and Research Institutes, sharing common goals but different structures and management systems, finding a way to bring science and direct patient access should be a key priority for each, but isn’t quite there yet. 

From an investor perspective, partnerships are also key for growth. Healthcare is attractive to investors for a plethora of reasons but the high levels of inefficiencies and lack of digitalised systems and processes are attractive as a way to get quick wins and increase value. Partnerships, particularly where private equity can leverage synergies in its portfolio, are important. 

Move fast and break things (thankfully) isn’t generally a mantra that fits in well with healthcare, though the pandemic did shake that up a little. And spurred on in part by the pandemic, with digital transformation well underway the opportunity for healthcare organisations to both develop and embrace innovation is very much here. They should be seeking to create innovative cultures where new ideas, systems, and processes can be developed and tested. As healthcare continues the march towards consumerisation delivering an anytime anywhere experience is paramount to building brands and lifetime patient relationships. The cost of getting the patient experience wrong is enormous. 

This all leads to the idea of building healthcare systems that can last the test of time and ride out storms far beyond a three to ten-year time frame. The solution to the global workforce crisis is only exacerbated by the current geopolitical environment so building a pipeline of staff underpinned by efficient processes and technology is crucial. 

Sustainable models are important and not just in the sense of environmental factors but organisations that are built to weather storms and last. The governance issues with France-based elderly care giant Orpea have rocked a sector already not shy of scandals and proved an example of how the world as  a whole is changing. 

And what of ESG, a term thrust into everyone’s vernacular in recent years? ESG is no longer a choice but increasingly a mandatory consideration in how organisations are run. Social impact has for a long time gone hand in hand with healthcare but Environment and Governance factors, in part spurred on by the investor and finance community but equally from patient expectations, are on the up. Doing nothing is bad, but what to do first and what targets and KPIs to follow is unclear, especially given the sheer number of acronyms that are bandied about when speaking on this topic. 

Investors continue to pile into the sector seeing it as a strong, stable opportunity with a belief by some that it is recession proof or at the very least recession resistant. But what can we learn from the last recession to qualify that opinion? Inflation is a big risk, whilst in some markets like the US and Germany costs can be passed on with relative ease to the payor and most increases can only be justified to a point. How the sector weathers this storm on the back of the last we wait to see. 

Only at HBI 2023 will you find in-depth sessions led by over 120 speakers which cover investment, business models, the future for sub-sectors, and regional opportunities to get a complete picture of the landscape and how you should set your strategy for the next three years and beyond. You can see the latest agenda just launched here and follow our blogs to stay up to date on the latest topics and ideas.