Medical Tourism Is A $68 Billion A Year Industry, And More And More Startups Want In
Tech companies are looking to emulate Airbnb or Hotels.com, but for people looking for medical services in a different country. In other industry news: cost control has become a top priority for health system executives, health care acquisitions are proving too expensive for private equity firms, and Amazon wants to nudge even further into the health care landscape.
Bloomberg:
Startups Look To Mainstream Medical Tourism
About 14 million people spent $68 billion on medical tourism in 2016, according to consulting firm PwC. A growing number are Westerners headed to developing countries for cosmetic surgery or dental work, procedures that are less expensive and invasive than major operations and often aren’t covered by insurance. PwC predicts that by 2021 the medical tourism market will reach $125 billion. The growth will be built not on nose jobs and dental implants but on costlier and riskier procedures with longer recovery times, such as knee replacements and heart surgeries. Startups from Berlin to Bangkok are trying to do for medical tourists what Airbnb or Hotels.com does for the general public. Instead of searching for a place to stay, users type in a medical procedure and get a list of clinics or doctors in nations that offer the surgery—scroll and click on a link to make an appointment. (Altstedter, 7/12)
Modern Healthcare:
Cost Containment Is A Top Priority Among Health System Executives
When Rob Lazerow, a managing director at the Advisory Board Co., recently met with the executive team of a large health system, he noticed a construction project had been downsized from the prior year. The organization decided to replace its aging facilities with smaller structures, which would potentially allow it to fine-tune its staffing model and reduce its inventory of excess supplies. (Kacik, 7/11)
Modern Healthcare:
High Prices Test Private Equity's Ability To Close Healthcare Deals
Now that healthcare consumerism is replacing traditional retail storefronts with dental and urgent-care clinics, the sector has drawn ravenous interest from private equity. But a new analysis finds some would-be buyers are getting discouraged by increasingly high prices. One in 4 respondents to West Monroe Partners' recent survey on 100 private equity groups and strategic healthcare buyers said their top challenge in completing healthcare mergers and acquisitions is a shortage of attractive targets. The biggest reason? They were too expensive. (Bannow, 7/11)
Bloomberg:
Amazon Has Global Aspirations For Medical-Supplies Marketplace
Amazon.com Inc. has global aspirations for its medical-supplies marketplace, according to a job listing posted on its website, highlighting the e-commerce giant’s sweeping ambitions to disrupt health care by selling products to hospitals, doctors and dentists and offering prescription drugs. The world’s biggest online retailer is looking to hire someone to lead outreach to medical-products manufacturers and service providers, who will focus on building the business in the U.S. and then expanding it globally, according to a new job post. Amazon started the Amazon Business marketplace in 2015, with health care among the industries it listed as potential customers -- along with factories, offices and universities. The new job posting emphasizes that what works for most businesses isn’t working for medical-industry clients. (Soper, 7/10)
