There have been significant changes in the world healthcare industry due to technology, economic difficulties, and the increasing focus on sustainability. The global healthcare technology management market is projected to grow to USD 20.78 billion by 2032, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5% over the forecast period from 2022 to 2032.
There are also advantages to using AI in healthcare procurement because it can help improve decision-making and operational efficiency in healthcare organisations, minimising costs and thus reducing the cost of procurements by up to 15-20%.
HCI is uniquely positioned to offer expert advice on working with the fast-changing healthcare procurement landscape by explaining how an organisation can leverage the most important healthcare industry trends. Combining profound industry insight and a proactive approach, we can help healthcare providers implement advanced technologies.
This includes artificial intelligence, which enables supply chain resilience, improving efficiency, effective cost management, reducing costs, and optimising healthcare procurement strategy and processes. With this knowledge, HCI ensures its customers are ready for current obstacles and remain favourably positioned for any other future growth.
The Forces Driving Global Healthcare Procurement
Ageing population
One of the most significant aspects that drives healthcare purchasing is the rise of the ageing population worldwide. The increase in the elderly population has led to a drastic surge in the need for health services, medical devices, and long-term care facilities. This transition requires healthcare organisations to review their procurement approaches based on cost-effectiveness and adopt technologies to serve old-age patients.
This includes remote monitoring systems and home healthcare contracting services. As a result, there is also increasing pressure on many healthcare organisations to maintain a steady stream of crucial supplies that demand strategic procurement for continuous improvement and high-quality care.
Rising Healthcare Costs
The rising healthcare costs have a significant impact on healthcare organisations by changing global procurement strategies. The amount spent on healthcare is expected to rise due to labor shortages, inflation, and the increased prevalence of chronic diseases. This will pressure healthcare providers to contain costs while maintaining high-quality patient care.
Nowadays, firms are working towards making their procurement departments more efficient by reducing wastage, bargaining for better contract terms, and using economies of scale to reduce expenses while running the business sustainably.
Source: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/smart-healthcare-market
Technological Advancements
Healthcare procurement is also witnessing changes due to technological advancements. More effective and precise procurement processes, from demand forecasting to supplier management, are facilitated by enhancements in artificial intelligence, data analysis, and automation. Procurement decisions can be optimised using AI-automated tools that predict supply chain disruptions and reduce operation costs.
Furthermore, advanced technologies in digital healthcare procurement solutions lead to efficiency, reduce costs, and help improve personalised healthcare. They enable organisations to align their procurement activities with patient needs and emerging healthcare trends. Rapidly changing environments require these technological developments if healthcare institutions remain competitive and responsive to patient care.
What Are The Latest Healthcare Procurement Trends?
These trends are collectively driving significant changes in the healthcare industry, shaping the future of how care is delivered and the health system is managed. Let us have a look at each one in here:
Artificial intelligence integration
AI is highly applicable in healthcare, with numerous applications ranging from diagnosis, recommendations on treatment, administrative tasks, and drug development. Therefore, the ability of AI algorithms to take in large quantities of data and process it at lightning speed makes them very useful in predicting analytics or customised medicine.
Uptake of cloud-based solutions
As such, cloud-based solutions in healthcare are becoming more prevalent since they facilitate the storage and sharing of patient records and collaboration among health workers. Thus, there should be ways in which medical programs can scale up their capacity for information exchange while keeping multiple databases secure.
Healthcare supply chain transparency
Transparency is critical in medical and supply chain management, mainly for the quality, safety, and availability of medical equipment and supplies. In addition, better visibility throughout the healthcare supply chain aids in risk mitigation, regulatory compliance, and timely delivery of critical inputs, especially in emergencies.
Source: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/news/global-home-healthcare-market
Patient-centric care models
Healthcare providers are transitioning towards patient-centric care models, prioritising patients’ needs and preferences. This approach stresses the critical benefits of integrative health care, improved patient involvement, and superior health results through patients’ more direct role in making decisions regarding their healthcare.
Adoption of value-based care procurement
Quality over quantity is the new mantra in healthcare. In essence, care value changes how doctors work by only offering services that improve patients’ health outcomes. This practice encourages better treatments and fewer unnecessary patient procedures, leading to an effective and affordable healthcare delivery system.
What Challenges Can Arise In Global Healthcare Procurement?
- Regulatory Complexity: Healthcare procurement professionals experience challenging and time-consuming periods through various changing guidelines in many countries.
- Supply Chain Disruptions: The timely delivery of essential healthcare products is affected by global supply chain disruption due to geopolitical issues, natural disasters, or pandemics.
- Quality Control: Maintaining consistent standards and safety across different supply chains, suppliers and regions becomes challenging, especially with multiple sourcing points and other manufacturing practices.
- Cost Management: Financial planning can be complicated by balancing cost control with high-quality, innovative medical products, further stretching procurement budgets.
- Data Security and Privacy: When managing sensitive patient data and procurement information across borders, there is a huge question mark regarding patient safety, compliance with international privacy laws and data security.
HCI stays abreast of global healthcare procurement trends and helps you navigate challenges with its diverse features, which we will explore in detail.
How Does HCI Help Navigate The Healthcare Procurement Challenges?
Navigating the complexities of healthcare procurement requires a strategic partner with deep industry expertise and innovative solutions—this is where HCI excels.
Bid support
An HCI subscription is available for you to gain access to several webinars covering all the essential aspects of procurement in the public sector. You will find an introduction to procurement, a detailed explanation of how public contract regulations work, and strategies to succeed in tendering. These are very resourceful and help one understand the current procurement practices about tendering and submitting bids, among other things, to ensure compliance and enhance your chances of success.
Discover and win bids.
HCI’s ‘bid to win‘ package makes it easier for you to win bids. It can be broken down into three simple steps to help you optimise your strategy. The first step is answering questions about your online bid history, processes, and policies. Then, HCI’s procurement consultants will assess your submission and organise an hour-long web meeting where goals will be set and strategies explicitly outlined for your organisation.
This feature will provide the necessary tools and ethical and sustainable practices to penetrate the highly competitive healthcare market. It provides insights for beginners and those who wish to know more about their strengths and weaknesses regarding healthcare tendering and contract management. Gain an edge over competition through better tender responses and improved internal processes.
Access to marketing toolkit
With HCI’s marketing toolkit, it is possible to better interact with various stakeholders in the public sector, particularly in healthcare. The toolkit is quite comprehensive and contains a manual divided into four sections, each carefully designed to improve your knowledge and effectiveness in marketing to support healthcare delivery across multiple stakeholders. With these learning materials, you will be ready to handle the intricacies of healthcare procurement.
Use the spend analysis tool for cost savings.
HCI’s spend analysis tool provides precious cost savings and strategic planning inputs. Thanks to aggregating information from over a thousand different sources, it offers the whole picture of total spending by healthcare buyers in the United Kingdom under one roof.
You can find your competitors through its hub, explore new purchasers, and see how money is spent. This knowledge will help you determine how to increase sales, improve bidding process efficiency, and impressively cut down expenses.
Customisable Dashboard and widgets
HCI is designed to meet your needs, offering a fully customisable dashboard to provide a complete and accurate market overview tailored to your business. This personalised dashboard allows you to visualise and analyse data and access updated information effortlessly. Including customisable widgets further enhances your experience by presenting different snapshots of information based on your preferences.
Whether you need real-time data on market trends, competitor activity, or spending analysis, these widgets ensure you get the precise insights you need quickly and efficiently. This level of customisation helps you stay informed and make strategic decisions that align with your unique business goals.
Final Words
In summary, the sustainable healthcare procurement scenario is changing fast due to long-term sustainability, technological changes, and reliance on data analytics when making decisions. The industry must change with these shifts; hence, players must be well-informed on short notice. By incorporating such concepts into procurement processes, effective healthcare procurement solutions provision can be streamlined, making it more efficient and less costly. Leading organisations need a proper comprehension of these things to manoeuvre through the obstacles of global healthcare markets with relative ease and achieve their goals in the long run.
