Primary Health Care Management in the Latin American Region

1. What are your day-to-day responsibilities as Business Unit Director of Population Health Management (PHM) at Hospital Sírio-Libanês?

Our PHM Business Unit is relatively new, considering that we started 6 years ago and that we are a 100-year-old institution. We were pioneers envisioning an opportunity that the healthcare sector would move towards care coordination, primary care, digital solutions and new business models. In that sense, the day-to-day responsibilities are making sure that we have the necessary resources – regarding digital tools, people, research, among others - applying our strategy into practice, delivering what our patient, corporate clients and healthcare professional need. In addition to it, and given how our market understanding and readiness for primary care services are still quite low, a constant effort to educate the market as well as a value proposition review are key in order to keep up with the market or even drive it.

2. What is your role at Hospital Sírio-Libanês in managing the projects? Could you shed light on the major pain points you are resolving?

Our goal with the PHM Business Unit is to understand what patients want and deliver what they really need. We truly believe that this is achievable if our projects are deeply related to our strategic pillars we are based on, which are: Science, Digital, CX, People, Data Intelligence and Operational Excellence. So all of the projects we are managing are connected to these pillars. In terms of pain points, from a payer or employer perspective, we focus on delivering great outcomes using a strong primary care service reducing population healthcare costs.

3. Why is Primary Care something that the private sector in Brazil struggles with?

That is a great question and there is no simple answer for it. First, the private sector has only started investing in primary care not so long ago. Therefore, we are still developing new care models and learning from our mistakes and failures. Secondly, we have failed in educating our people about what value in healthcare really is. Patients do not understand they are responsible for their own health and that, in healthcare, a large provider network, high reimbursements and nice facilities are far from being enough to sustain the system or a patient’s health conditions. 

Given that the private sector has been under a lot of pressure over the last few years, investing in new care models are now mandatory to reduce costs and, to that end, I see digital tools playing a very important role.

“Given that the private sector has been under a lot of pressure over the last few years, investing in new care models are now mandatory to reduce costs and, to that end, I see digital tools playing a very important role.”

4. Talking about digital, do you see any progress? Has it really changed how healthcare has been delivered?

Yes, it has changed how healthcare has been delivered. Telecare and the amount of data we can now put together tell for themselves. However, I see digital as a mean to an end. We must also change our care models, business models and old mindsets using technology and digital to go faster, better and more efficient. If we only innovate with technology without those changes, we will lose an opportunity to really disrupt the system and deliver real value, not only to patients, but also to the whole healthcare chain.

5. Given this scenario, what a good value proposition should be based on?

A good value proposition should absorb three big forces. The first one is Science. Everything we create and deliver must be science based and driven. It tells us what a care program should be like and what success looks like for everyone in any care pathway. The second force is the patient. Our responsibility is to fully understand what they want, knowing that science will sometimes show us that it is not necessarily what they need. The final and third force is the market itself. Payers and employers must see value in whatever it is we are offering or the value proposition might end up being something nice, but not marketable. Finding the balance amongst Science, Patient Needs and Market is definitely a good way to build a strong value proposition. The challenge is that the market is very short term minded and it is usually the one setting the trends and direction.