The Future of Healthcare in The Netherlands 2015

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At the Rotterdam School of Management MBA students Bas Pietersen, Diekske van der Pas, Erik Nijveld, Roberto Fraticelli and Wim Den Haese have as part of their assignment for the course New Global Business Environment looked at the future of Healthcare in The Netherlands in 2015. To download their presentation in PDF please click here.


Introduction

The future of healthcare is a topic that features dominantly on the public and political agenda in The Netherlands, as well as on the agenda of stakeholders like health insurers, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. This document gives a view on how that future may look like. Drivers and trends in healthcare were identified based on a broad set of reference material and round table discussions. Three key uncertainties were identified that shape the future of healthcare: the demand of healthcare, the role of technology, and the efficiency in healthcare organisations. Four scenarios were developed. The impact of each scenario on the future of healthcare and the consequences for stakeholders are described.

Scenarios

Social Unrest

In 2013 the Dutch health system was nearing collapse: insufficient and aged infrastructure, unusable (due to lack of maintenance) and dated medical equipment, lack of qualified and unqualified personnel (unattractive wages and high professional risks) and an exceptional increase in demand (due to immigration, aging population and new diseases). The government reacted by allowing private hospitals to operate all over the country, convinced that this measure would reduce the pressure on the system. This measure is seen as one of the main reasons behind today’s social unrest, linked to the increasing gap between rich and poor, and political instability.

Efficiency über alles

In 2011 the Minister for Healthcare announced significant cost cutting measure and a 3-year plan to drastically improve the efficiency of the system, the quality of the service provided and the number of patients treated each year. The results were already visible after two years: most of the inefficient health care structures had either been closed or privatised, bureaucracy was minimised, new more effective management systems were introduced, prevention (one of the new high priority objectives introduced) significantly contributed to a quicker (and less expensive) medical treatment of the incoming patients with significantly lower costs.

Hi-Tech Solutions

Since the first announcement was made in 2007 by the biotech company HomeCare of HomeDoctor, the first prototype of an affordable and compact MAC (medical assistant computer), numerous new discoveries were made in the medical field. Already at the end of 2010 MACs were successfully mass marketed and distributed over 50 nations.

Patient is King

The price war that started at the beginning of 2013 (which resembled that of European airlines at the turn of the century) to gain patients has brought both private and public healthcare institutions to the brink of financial collapse. Now that nothing more is left to gain through efficiency and all major costs (i.e. R&D, new equipment, expensive personnel and maintenance) have been cut, the question remains how to survive (will hospitals still be needed?).


To download the presentation in PDF please click here.