Public Health Systems Need Help
14th Annual meeting of health technology industry executives

A sharp increase in spending has raised doubts about the present systems' sustainability, especially since the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts expenditure in Europe to grow by 16 percent. This brings into focus the need to adopt a range of solutions to guarantee the long-term survival of national health care systems.

The role of technology in public health care spending, its contribution to overall efficiency and key trends for the future were some of the issues discussed at IESE’s 14th Annual Meeting of Health Technology Industry Executives. The event took place at the Madrid campus on Dec. 4 and was organized by IESE and Fenin, the Spanish federation of health care technology companies.

Margarita Alfonsel, general secretary of Fenin, said, “Instead of talking about spending on healthcare equipment we should use the term, healthcare investment, since this expenditure ultimately improves patients’ quality of life through preventative care and effective treatment.” She added that more research is needed in cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and cost-risk analysis to evaluate new technologies.

New trends

One issue discussed at the meeting was the trend toward prevention. According to Javier Colás, general manager of Medtronic Ibérica, a medical equipment supplier, “sustainable healthcare systems develop preventative care, manage resources strategically and teach patients to take responsibility for their health and lead healthy lives.”  Julio Vega, general manager of Siemens’ medical solutions division, focused on future trends such as robotic surgery, microelectronics and the use of biochips in both molecular diagnosis and the development of genetic studies.

Wayne E. Keathley, executive vice-president of The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York predicted that the hospital of the future will be ranked by its research, the implementation of new techniques and the quality of its service. For Keathley, the biggest challenge is bringing advances in technology to the patient’s bed in the shortest possible time.

A picture of healthcare systems

During the meeting, participants analyzed a range of healthcare models in different countries. For example, in Spain the health care technology sector represents 10 percent of the overall European market and  Spain spends 17 percent of its budget for health on new technologies. 

As a result, Consuelo Sánchez Naranjo, the under-secretary of the Ministry of Health, told participants that “Spain is at the forefront of the development of new healthcare technology.”  Sánchez highlighted the need to coordinate the various agencies involved in project start-ups and in new technologies.  This would create a network which could  evaluate and test innovations, and introduce them into the healthcare system.

Looking at China, speakers stressed that the country is a potential growth market for health technology equipment due to changes to the healthcare system presently under review by the Chinese government. Among the event’s participants were Xu Hang, president and co-CEO of Mindray Medical International Limited, a New York stock exchange-listed medical equipment supplier with 3,500 employees  and Hubert Thomassen (MBA ‘90), CEO of Smart Medical España, a company producing products for gastroenterological and urological conditions, that is supported by IESE’s venture capital fund FINAVES.