Maintaining growth sustainability
Maintaining growth sustainability
working in a global city is providing a lot of opportunities to grow and achieve benchmarks,for us and also for other competitors. Dubai has grown tremendously in healthcare in the last five year, with many new hospitals and clinics opening on yearly basis.
1. The market is so fragmented with many general hospitals, sub specialty hospitals, polyclinics and small clinics. Attracting these clinics for admission referrals is not sustainable,as they shift their referral destinations depending on the provider who gives lower admission prices,so it is price war between hospitals.
2. How to maintain our prices when our competitor hospital which is 5 minute drive away is reducing its prices to attract insurance companies. Is keeping higher quality of services is the solution ? We have a higher quality but they improved their quality also to stay in competition with us , although they cannot reach us but insurance companies will look at the price first.
3. Is reducing cost is the answer to sustain growth but if our staff are all expatriates from 40 different nationality, who works abroad mainly for financial reasons,how they will respond to payroll reduction as part of cost cutting for example.
4. Is international business and medical tourism is the answer? But what is the reality of medical tourism, how helpful and sustainable it is in the organization revenue stream.
5. Implementation of mandatory insurance has already started this year. most of new comers under insurance lower end categories which does not help high end hospitals like us. Does a growth of business will be generated for higher end hospitals ,once implementation is matured enough?
6. Which factor to focus on from above 5 ones in your opinion?
An interesting dilemma. Your first three options in the end all seem to be pricing strategies. Of course you should keep a sharp eye at the costs of your business, cut waste, but in the end cost cutting is not a strategy, as we learned from Porters strategy paper. It will leave you in a race to the bottom. And working for a healthcare insurer that is in a cut throat prize competition, it is not a place were you want to end up.
So you should really focus on your price relative to your outcomes for your patients. In other words add value. Focus on quality of care and better outcomes that matter to your patients. Measure outcomes, proof you are delivering better quality and healthcare plans are more then willing to pay higher prices for better outcomes. From a payers perspective, if you know nothing about outcome, you can only look at the price.