O setor de assistência médica privado da Austrália esperava que uma onda de aumento da demanda após a pandemia covid-19 que faria crescimento de admissões atingirem os níveis de 2010. Essa expectativa era razoável, dada o envelhecimento e a crescente população, aumentando a prevalência de doenças crônicas, atrasou os cuidados durante a pandemia e a crescente captação do seguro de saúde privado. Então, por que o setor ainda está esperando o crescimento? Este artigo explora por que a demanda foi tão moderada e como os provedores podem responder.
Low Growth in Private Hospital Admissions
Os hospitais estão vendo um crescimento de admissões privadas muito mais baixo do que o esperado. De 2018 a 2023, o total de internações privadas cresceu a uma taxa composta inferior a 1%. 1). Além disso, as consequências do Covid-19 viu muitos funcionários experientes, principalmente enfermeiros de teatro e gerentes de unidade, iniciarem que interrompem as equipes e afetaram a produtividade. Esses elementos combinaram-se para contribuir para um ambiente desafiador para hospitais privados, com muitos lutando para se equilibrar e vários fechando. CoVID-19, o número total de consultas de GP que ocorrem na Austrália parou em cerca de 135 milhões por ano. Isso significa que as consultas totais de GP estão agora 9% menores do que teriam sido mantidas se a trajetória de crescimento pré-COVID tivesse sido mantida (ver Anexo 2). 3). A escassez de enfermeiros registrados é bem conhecida e impactou a capacidade de muitos hospitais privados de executar em capacidade, resultando em atrasos nos cuidados. Pós-pandêmica, muitos profissionais de saúde priorizaram o equilíbrio entre vida profissional e pessoal, com dados de registro da AHPRA demonstrando que especialistas em obstetrícia, cirurgia e oftalmologia reduziram suas horas médias em hospitais privados desde a pandemia. Da mesma forma, os GPs estão cada vez mais optando por funções de meio período (aumento de 8% atingindo 63% desde 2022), refletindo o número crescente de mulheres na força de trabalho e a mudança de cuidados que oferecem papéis para muitos homens. Enquanto isso, investimentos governamentais significativos em hospitais públicos aumentaram a demanda por médicos. Em 2023, muitos trabalhadores australianos, incluindo profissionais de saúde, começaram a tirar a licença vencida que haviam acumulado durante o pico da pandemia, colocando a força de trabalho sob tensão adicional. Os dados da Força de Trabalho da ABS mostram que, em média, os trabalhadores australianos receberam 53% mais licença anual e de serviço anual em 2023 do que em 2019 (ver Anexo 4). Com 40% do aumento do equilíbrio de licença ainda inexplorado e australianos, particularmente mais demográficos ricos, mostrando um interesse renovado em viagens em 2024, While there has been some growth (2% p.a.) in same-day admissions to private hospitals, multi-day admissions to private hospitals have declined over the last 5 years despite the public sector also treating fewer private patients (see exhibit 1).
The financial pressure of low admissions growth has been compounded by limited growth in Private Health Insurance rebates (increasing by 2% each year since 2019) and rising operating costs, primarily driven by higher nursing salaries and increased reliance on agency staff. In addition, the aftermath of Covid-19 saw many experienced staff, particularly theatre nurses and unit managers, depart which disrupted teams and affected productivity. These elements have combined to contribute to a challenging environment for private hospitals, with many struggling to break-even and several closing down.
What Is Driving the Low Growth in Private Admissions?
The slow growth in private patient admissions appears to have been partly driven by stagnating GP consultations and declining specialist consultations.
Since the onset of Covid-19, the total number of GP consultations occurring in Australia has stalled at around 135 million per year. This means total GP consultations are now 9% lower than they would have been had the pre-covid growth trajectory been maintained (see exhibit 2).
Medicare funded specialist consultations have declined even more significantly, having peaked pre-Covid in 2017, despite improved access via telehealth (see Exhibit 3).
Flat GP consultations and declining private specialist consultations means fewer patients being diagnosed and referred through for surgery or other care in private hospitals.
Workforce shortages are clearly part of the reason for both the slow growth in GP and specialist consultations and in in private hospital admissions. The shortage of registered nurses is well known and has impacted the ability of many private hospitals to run at capacity, resulting in care delays. Post-pandemic, many health care workers have prioritised work-life balance, with AHPRA registration data demonstrating that specialists in obstetrics, surgery, and ophthalmology have all reduced their average hours in private hospitals since the pandemic. Similarly, GPs are increasingly opting for part-time roles (8% rise reaching 63% since 2022), reflecting both the increasing number of women in the workforce and shifting care giving roles for many men. Meanwhile, significant government investments in public hospitals have increased the demand for clinicians.
In 2022, high rates of community transmission of Covid-19 saw many private hospitals struggle with high rates of sick leave. In 2023, many Australian workers, including health care professionals, started taking the overdue leave that they had accumulated during the peak of the pandemic, putting the workforce under further strain. ABS Labour Force data shows that on average, Australian workers took 53% more annual and long service leave in 2023 than they did in 2019 (see Exhibit 4). With 40% of the leave balance increase still untapped and Australians, particularly more affluent demographics, showing renewed interest in travel in 2024,
Finally, higher out of pocket costs for privately provided health care and the cost-of-living crisis have impacted consumer demand, affecting GP and specialist consultations and private admissions directly. Consumer confidence hit record lows in late 2022 and early 2023 as rising interest rates and higher rents put significant financial pressure on Australian households. At the same time, out-of-pocket medical expenses continued to rise and bulk billing declined, encouraging patients to be more cautious and deliberate with their health care spending. These factors, coupled with the public system’s effort to address surgery backlogs, have resulted in more patients choosing the public system over the private system.
Como os provedores de saúde privados podem ter sucesso nesse ambiente de baixo crescimento? O sucesso foi construído sobre como atrair os cirurgiões e médicos cujos pacientes mantiveram o hospital ocupado. A competição centrou -se no desenvolvimento de novas oportunidades de Greenfield e na otimização da expansão brownfield para capturar o crescimento contínuo. Gestores gerais fortes competiram operando instalações atraentes e bem administradas com funcionários motivados e confiáveis, garantindo retenção e produtividade médicas. No novo ambiente de crescimento inferior, com cuidados cada vez mais entregues fora do hospital, a base para a concorrência em hospitais privados precisará evoluir. Cirurgiões e médicos de alto volume, fornecendo acesso a instalações de alta qualidade e comodidades atraentes (por exemplo, estacionamento) para que possam ser maximamente produtivas. O novo ambiente recompensará hospitais privados que desenvolvem modelos de engajamento que apóiam os médicos a construir suas práticas, além de ajudá-los a cumprir as metas de equilíbrio entre vida profissional e pessoal, por exemplo, fornecendo suporte ao gerenciamento de práticas. Os hospitais devem considerar abordagens inovadoras, como incentivar as equipes de formação de subespecialistas que trabalham juntos como práticas profissionais, alinhando seus objetivos de renda, desenvolvimento profissional e equilíbrio entre vida profissional e vital com os objetivos econômicos do hospital, como o uso eficiente de recursos. Os hospitais não alavancaram essas reputações diretamente para impulsionar a indicação. Cada vez mais, os provedores de hospitais precisam projetar experiências de assistência médica para os consumidores modernos, com fácil reserva, acesso rápido ao serviço, respostas rápidas, preços transparentes e opções de finanças acessíveis, como "sem lacuna" ou "lacuna conhecida". Os hospitais devem considerar alianças de marcas mutuamente benéficas com práticas gerais locais que atendem ao seu mercado -alvo e modelos de engajamento digital de pacientes digitais, incluindo serviços de segunda opinião. melhores resultados do paciente. Muitos grupos hospitalares estão começando a investir em serviços de saúde aliados, prestação de cuidados domiciliares e infraestrutura digital para criar viagens mais conectadas. Com o tempo, a integração com diagnósticos e outros serviços especializados precisará ser considerada, pois os pagadores avançam em direção a pagamentos agrupados e modelos de atendimento interdisciplinar. A experiência global da BCG foi construída, pois muitas nações navegam nessas mudanças na prestação de serviços de saúde. Congratulamo -nos com a oportunidade de discutir como podemos ajudá -lo a navegar neste cenário complexo.
Historically, good sites and strong general management were the critical factors that drove strong revenue growth for private hospitals. Success was built on being able to attract the surgeons and physicians whose patients kept the hospital occupied. Competition centered on developing new greenfield opportunities and optimising brownfield expansion to capture the ongoing growth. Strong general managers competed by operating attractive, well-run facilities with motivated and reliable staff, ensuring doctor retention and productivity. In the new, lower growth environment, with care increasingly delivered outside the hospital, the basis for competition in private hospitals will need to evolve.
To succeed in this new environment, providers will have to learn to compete on three new dimensions:
- Differentiate your clinician value proposition to support their personal and professional career goals. Competition for clinicians historically focused on winning high-volume surgeons and physicians by providing access to high quality facilities and attractive amenities (e.g., parking) so they could be maximally productive. The new environment will reward private hospitals that develop engagement models that support clinicians to build their practices while also helping them meet work-life balance goals for example by providing practice management support. Hospitals should consider innovative approaches such as encouraging the formation teams of sub-specialists who work together as professional practices, aligning their goals for income, professional development, and work life balance with the hospital's economic objectives, such as efficient use of resources.
- Strengthen your brand with patients to win in an increasingly consumer driven market. While many private hospitals have strong reputations in their local communities, hospitals have not leveraged these reputations directly to drive referral. Increasingly, hospital providers need to design health care experiences for modern consumers, with easy booking, quick service access, prompt responses, transparent pricing, and accessible finance options such as ‘no gap’ or ‘known gap’ services. Hospitals should consider mutually beneficial brand alliances with local General Practices that serve their target market and direct digital patient engagement models including second opinion services.
- Extend ability to capture value along the whole patient journey. As health care is increasingly delivered outside hospital walls, private hospitals operators need to consider ownership stakes and investments in physical and digital infrastructure that supports a seamless experience along the patient journey and better patient outcomes. Many hospital groups are beginning to invest in allied health services, home care delivery and digital infrastructure to create more connected journeys. Over time, integration with diagnostics and other specialist services will need to be considered as payers push towards bundled payments and inter-disciplinary care models.
Implementing these strategies individually is tricky, and it is even more challenging to weave them into an integrated strategy that enhances market share and revenue, streamlines operations, fosters collaboration, and supports long term growth in an evolving health care landscape. BCG’s global experience has been built as many nations navigate these changes in health care delivery. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can help you navigate this complex landscape.
