WE NEED EMPOWERED CUSTOMERS

Transcription

1 WE NEED EMPOWERED CUSTOMERS Kari Varkila CEO, Koskiklinikka President, Association of Finnish Private Healtcare Providers (LPY) Board Member, Federation of Finnish Enterprises Tampereen lääkärikeskus Oy Koskiklinikka Koskikeskus Hatanpään valtatie Tampere

2 Issues in Finnish healthcare Long waiting times for patients in public healthcare Inefficiencies in public healthcare (bureaucratic organizations and heavy bureaucracy burden to healthcare professionlas, low volume production in many hospitals) High co-payment Rising costs in specialized care (equipment and medicines) Lack of cost transparency in public healthcare system Fragmentation of therapy costs in the society (total cost?) Hidden VAT in private care (100 m /year) No separation of purchasers and suppliers in public healthcare Service markets do not exist

3 Customers want and have a right to choose Think if you were not allowed to select: The car you drive The hotel you stay in The airline you fly with The store where you purchase your groceciers Your barber The list is endless, so why healthcare should be different?

4 Common excuses in healthcare to ignore customers Healthcare is too complicated (how well do you understand your cars technology?) Customers don t know how to compare (have you heard about customer experience?) I work here everyday customers come here once in their lifetime) Customers keep wanting more if you provide services they like

5 PAYERS AND PLAYERS IN PRIVATE HEALTHCARE Employer Socail security insurance Insurance company CUSTOMER Note: no tax funding for private healthcare

6 Who is carrying the costs? Pre-treatment period Customer, employer Treatment Insurance company or social security insurance, employer, society Post treatment period Employer (always) Society (almost always) Insurance company (work related injuries, traffic accidents)

7 Recent events All major insurance companies have agreements with selected private healthcare providers (partners) in order to guarantee quality and cap the costs Most companies have reduced the number of their partners Pohjola founded Omasairaala in 2013 and is transparently but forcefully directing Pohjola insured patients to Omasairaala in Southern Finland (even with high transportation costs) Lähi-Tapiola bought 15 % of Pihlajalinna in 2013 and after that started quietly directing patients against their will to Pihlajalinna Other companies (IF, Fennia, Pohjantähti) work with their partners

8 Motivation factors Financial benefit Personal benefit Altruistic behaviour

9 Why should insurance companies have special priviledges over customer preference? Insurance companies are altruistic? Oh yes; own pocket is the closest Insurance companies know something that others don t know They are true beginners in running healthcare Insurance companies invest in healthcare companies Investing is finacial decision and should stay as such They have statistical data that others do not have Perhaps, but so far they have only shown that they know how to play the media game (where are the numbers?)

10 Congratulations to Omasairaala for good work and for the marketing gimmick of the year we have cut the length of treatment process in half declared after 4-6 months of being in operation Absolutely no data or methods shown. True analysis would require data from several months/years Comparison to Pohjola s previous data where length of stay had depended on Pohjola s own actions No mentioning that some HCP s such as Koskiklinikka had achieved similar results already many years ago and continue to do so if allowed Media, politicians and many lay people bought the nice story with no critisism In December 2013 it was mentioned that the results referred relate to special cases Luckily Omasairaala is doing a very good job like most other private clinics

11 Do we only see what we want to see?