Why so few real entrepreneurs?
Health care services is probably Europe’s largest industry as a percentage of GDP. Even private-only healthcare and care services is a couple of points of GDP. So why so few real entrepreneurs? Most bosses in this industry are simply running and growing largish, stable businesses or doctors building private practices. Very few are seeking to identify and meet unmet demands.
What is really striking about health care is how unmet and hidden most demand is. Yes, West Europeans get access to good publicly paid for health care. But even in the best-run countries there is huge demand which could be met in areas such as wellness and a willingness to pay for demonstrably better elective procedures. And there is a vast array of middle-aged people who no longer buy into the old cultural norm that aging is unavoidable. Pro-active annual check ups, a battery of new tests which have not yet got public payor approval and hormone and supplement treatments are all areas of huge promise. The wealthiest sector of the population is the elderly. They are ready and willing to pay for extra specialised extra care after strokes and other acute episodes or for care packages which mean they can live at home longer.
In Eastern Europe what is lacking is availability and access to many forms of health and care. Build and they will come.
The real brake on entrepreneurialism comes, of course, from the medical profession. Clearly, it is important that treatments work properly. But often we think real, non-medical entrepreneurs in this sector are deterred at a very early stage by sceptism from medical friends. At later stages, they face bans on promotion and hostile press coverage. We do not know how you deal with this problem. But the first step is to recognise it and to challenge the idea that all health care service entrepreneurs are, by definition, unethical interlopers. Actually, they are very much needed as our societies age.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Max Hotopf or call 0207 183 3779.
