HHE Perspectives on Hospital and Industry Partnerships | Page 10

Perspectives on hospital and industry partnerships:
The aim of improving outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction and reducing costs
Identifying the greatest need
E
The German Pharmacy Director believed the most help is needed
in making products ready to administer, which saves time. From
a UK perspective, the benefits to the stakeholders need to be
balanced with significant cost savings.
uropean Pharmacy Directors believed that their hospitals
would prefer more support in achieving the aim of improving
clinical outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction and reducing
costs in specific areas such as oncology, theatre, general surgery,
disease management, population health and the technology for
medication compliance.
There is also a case for those patients with long-term conditions
with co-morbidities that affect their quality of life needing a
holistic approach – this will improve patient experience and lead
to better patient outcomes. In addition, respondents said that
there was value in manufacturers offering technical solutions in
medicine and patient management.
In the UK, IT was flagged as an area where manufacturers
could provide hospitals with external support, particularly in an
acute setting.
‘There is a big issue with IT; there may
be many different IT systems in an acute
setting. Teams are unable to share patient
information.’
Service Re-Design Manager, UK
Conclusion
T
he research highlighted the fact that hospital
stakeholders have seen a change in mindset
and are starting to recognise the multiple benefits of
working with industry to better help them achieve
their objectives.
The research indicated that value-based offerings
are particularly beneficial in certain disease areas,
such as oncology and diabetes. They can also be of
benefit to hospitals in the areas of data exchange,
co-ordinating IT systems in acute settings, and
medicine and patient management.
Manufacturers have certain skills which may not
be commonly available within the hospital setting
and these could be taken advantage of by hospital
stakeholders and healthcare system decision makers.
Challenges for hospital–industry partnerships
include ensuring that they meet all compliance
rules and that they avoid conflicts of interest.
It is understood that there needs to be transparency
within the business cases put forward and there
is also recognition that the tender design, tender
process and evaluation processes need to be
robust and well thought-out. Earlier interaction
and involvement from all stakeholders including
industry, as well as considered measurement and
evaluation parameters, will go a long way to helping
make hospital–industry partnerships a success.
Although they are not currently a first-choice
solution, value-based hospital–industry partnerships
are seen as a welcome addition to the range of hospital
solutions currently available and will likely grow in
popularity across Europe in the coming years.
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HHE 2018 | hospitalhealthcare.com