Where is for-profit health care heading?
The good news is it is now crystal clear what the winning business models are. The bad news is that no one has worked out how to negotiate the silos. Next week the global for-profit health care sector meets at HBI 2019 in London: What is the main theme?
The really striking thing is that we all now know what will work over the next decade in for-profit healthcare. The answer is a stronger relationship with the patient by offering longer and wider patient pathways. Digital in all its forms will be core to this. The good news is that for the first time it is clear that patients in all forms want the ability to communicate digitally with a trusted health partner.
Slides I’ve seen for HBI 2020 show massive leaps in patient willingness to use telehealth and to communicate digitally.
Simultaneously, operators are offering broader services. Nursing homes are moving into homecare for this very reason, hospitals into primary care, etc.
The winners, and this shows up strongly in valuations, are those with strong outpatient touch with 1m plus customers. They are the ones with the elbow room to build for the future. Mehilainen, Terveystalo and Medicover are all speaking at the event.
The bad news is that no one has really worked out how to build businesses which move beyond the silos inflicted by payors and regulators. The problem is worst in Western Europe with its mature public systems and intricate bureaucracies. Private medical insurers insofar as they are thinking about anything apart from renewal rates and commission payments to agents are more flexible but also want to compete as health care providers. The big opportunity for the for-profit sector is then in emerging markets with their growing middle classes and inadequate regulation and public sector delivery.
In Western Europe, it is paramount that operators start to engage much more closely with policymakers, politicians and regulators. These are some of the issues we address at the conference which brings together over 640 delegates from 50 countries. Half are CEOs and 100+ are investors. Have you booked your ticket?
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Max Hotopf or call 0207 183 3779.
