49 results
Posted on 02.03.2020
Can procurement unlock value-based healthcare?
In recent years, there has been increasing attention on how we can address the biggest challenges in healthcare: variation in patient outcomes, unsustainable cost increases, and low-value care. As populations age and the rates of chronic diseases rise, we have no choice but to rethink how we get value from healthcare spending. In January, MedTech […]
Posted on 20.01.2020
VBP: The road from unwanted necessity to high impact strategic partner
Public procurement was established as a way of purchasing products that hospitals need. However, this one-dimensional view of procurement is changing very quickly. From humble beginnings as an obscure back-office function, I am pleased to say procurement is fast becoming a high-impact strategic partner for hospitals. What’s behind this shift? Traditionally, product price has been […]
Posted on 02.12.2019
How innovative procurement can improve healthcare outcomes
In healthcare, the traditional role of procurement was to secure the availability of goods and services needed to deliver care. Once this was achieved, procurement moved one step up the ‘pyramid of procurement activities’: negotiating on product prices and discounts, in order to reduce spending on medical devices and consumables. In recent years, things have […]
Posted on 31.10.2019
Value Based Procurement: A Supplier’s View
We have been talking a lot about Value-Based Procurement (VBP) from the buyer’s perspective. But what does VBP mean for us, suppliers, and what should we do to implement the concepts of VBP within our organisations? My view is that VBP is a key source of competitive advantage. I see Public Tenders as the sea […]
Posted on 03.10.2019
Training patients to engage in medtech R&D
The European Patients’ Academy (EUPATI) has trained dozens of patients to engage with companies and decision-makers on medicines development. Now it’s time to think about medtech. I am convinced that the days when experts and clinicians decided what patients want are long gone. Modern healthcare aspires to be patient-centred, while academics, policymakers and industry are […]
Posted on 16.09.2019
What do we need in our ‘value-based procurement’ toolbox?
It’s great that value-based procurement is being introduced into the healthcare procurement world, as I truly believe this is the way to tackle the challenges we face in healthcare today. Though, I do wonder whether we really understand the meaning of this approach and how we can use it in a way it contributes to […]
Posted on 29.07.2019
Local and regional authorities are central in the European debate on health
Since January 2018 I am working for EUREGHA – European Regional and local health authorities– a Brussels-based association representing the interest at EU level of 15 regions coming from 10 countries across Europe. This vibrant network made me positively discover how local and regional health authorities are becoming more and more interested and engaged in […]
Posted on 24.07.2019
Interoperability unlocks the potential of digital health
Digital health has the potential to make healthcare better for patients and for healthcare professionals, as well as to accelerate the shift towards more efficient and cost-effective ways of delivering care. It promises to make healthcare better, safer, and more centred on the patient. Yet, despite this great potential, the people I speak to – […]
Posted on 24.06.2019
Can procurement deliver the ‘best value’ for money?
To my mind, the overarching challenge of modern healthcare systems is to increase the value and outcomes of care, not just to control costs. As someone keenly interested in procurement, this leads me to question what it all means for how health systems buy the technologies they need. In a competitive healthcare system, like the […]