Q&A PRICE WATERHOUSE COOPERS 021
Q. What, in your opinion, is the key to improving quality in healthcare? A. There are a number of issues here. Payers - be they state or private - should focus more on paying for, and where appropriate paying a premium, for quality outcomes rather than the current prevalence of paying for inputs. They should also be prepared to penalise and in extremis shun poor quality providers. Regulators should offer the public clear, independent data on provider performance so they can make choices between good, average and poor providers. Regulatory regimes should also not be afraid to de-license poorly performing providers. Improved investment in workforce training and retention will also pay dividends in this regard.
Q. mHealth was a hot topic at this years Arab Health Exhibition and Congress. How realistic is the implementation of these types of technologies in this part of the world? A. mHealth is a key feature of every future successful health system — everywhere. Access, convenience, sustainability, and cost all point to this. The health sector has tended to lag other consumer industries (telco, banking etc) by 10-15 years. What is standard in these industries now (consumer focus, mobile, 24/7 access, personalised products and
services) will come to health in the next decade. There will be social, cultural, economic, and some tech nuances to how these services are delivered in different geographies, but the trend is unstoppable. There is no evidence to suggest this region is different in this respect. It is also highly desirable as properly delivered it will improve access, choice, quality and cost effectiveness.
Q. How do you see the development of the healthcare sector in the Middle East in general? A. Health systems in the region have the opportunity not to repeat many of the mistakes made by more mature systems elsewhere which focused for far too long on physical infrastructure rather than better health outcomes, assuming (wrongly) that more of the first necessarily led to more of the latter. Greater focus on the front end of healthcare (public and primary), better use of technology - to take healthcare to the user rather than shipping people to large physical institutions - and the development of a sustainable land locally based workforce will be key to this. The good news for the region is that in most countries there are less immediate financial pressures than there are in countries further afield. Investing now in the right services, payer systems and regulatory frameworks will pay major health dividends for decades to come.
www.lifesciencesmagazines.com
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