Creating value in health systems
Held every two years, the IFC Global Private Health Conference brings together hundreds of private and public healthcare delegates from around the world. This year, in Barcelona, the main topic of conversation was how to create value in health systems, and Healthcare Nova and Healthcare Europa were there to find out more.
With many of the speakers either from the IFC itself or from companies currently or historically supported by it, it was no surprise that a lot of the conversations focused on topics dear to the IFC – from value-based healthcare to the future of PPPs.
There was also much discussion about the need to make a social impact – one of the IFC’s core objectives as a development finance institution – and how difficult it was to do this in lower-income regions.
But there were also some interesting panel discussions with a few interesting revelations. Mexican operator Gruppo Torre Medica said it has managed to reduce costs by 35% by shifting its focus onto only five specialties. Indian oncology specialist HCG explained that personalised medicine has had a big impact on the group, with 48% of patients changing treatment after Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). And we heard Israeli start-up Zebra Medical Vision is developing new algorithms for medical imaging readings to be completely automated in the next five years.
But the focus was on creating value in health systems, and it came as little surprise to hear this will most likely involve focusing on disease specific care, systematically measuring outcomes, offering constant training opportunities to staff and using technology to be closer to patients, strengthening the referral system and providing more accurate diagnoses.
You will be able to read more about some of the more interesting sessions in the coming week or two in Healthcare Nova.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Ariane Jugieux or call 0207 183 3779.
