Marketing & Media trends
Industry trends
Sponsors
Healthcare trends
Healthcare innovation in 2021 and beyond
Reynhardt UysAre day hospitals the new trend?
Lee Callakoppen3 emerging medical scheme membership patterns
Nerine BrinkHealthcare innovations to look out for
Moshe Lichtenstein
Agriculture trends
Automotive trends
Construction & Engineering trends
CSI & Sustainability trends
4 trends set to continue or be re-interpreted in the NGO sector
Innocent MasayiraStrengthening NPO skills and processes
Nazeema Mohamed, Feryal Domingo and Soraya JoonasSustainability is key for social investment in 2021
Keri-Leigh Paschal
Education trends
Energy & Mining trends
Digital solutions need small steps to succeed
Xanthe AdamsMining looks ahead to more Covid risk
Ralf HenneckeMining's year ahead will demand deep innovation
Frederick Cawood
Entrepreneurship trends
Finance trends
The 4 themes for the new year
Andrew Duvenage,3 wealth management trends to watch in 2021
Maarten Ackerman4 strategies to rethink investing in SMEs
Kuhle MnisiMicroinsurance ready to reach new heights
Marius BothaFinding alpha in the age of Covid-19
Nema Ramkhelawan-BhanaPurpose or profit. It's not a choice
Mike MiddletonShifting towards a digital - but still human - approach
Henry van Deventer
HR & Management trends
ICT trends
Legal trends
Lifestyle trends
Wine in the wake of corona
Kristen Duff and Gosia Young7 prospects and necessary shifts for the arts
Rucera Seethal
Logistics & Transport trends
Marketing & Media trends
Tech democratisation will set the tone for 2021
Andrew Smit and Johan Walters
Property trends
Auction industry survival depends on going virtual
Joff van ReenenCovid-19 drives new trends in local property market
Marcél du Toit
Retail trends
The rise of D2C
Michael SmollanAcceleration of digital payments
Jonathan SmitSafety vs sustainability - the packaging industry's key conundrum
Nthabiseng MotsoenengThe evolving e-tail landscape
Vilo TrskaThe path forward for retail in 2021
Matthew Leighton
Covid-19
Healthcare jobs
- Clinical Consultant Cape Town
- Clinical Consultant Cape Town
- Registered Nurse Johannesburg
- Freelance Medical/Pharmaceutical/Product Sales Representative Cape Town
Advertise your job ad on Bizcommunity
#BizTrends2020: Diagnosing SA's healthcare sector
Healthcare is one of our economy's sectors most carefully scrutinised by local and international investors. This interest is unlikely to decrease in 2020, with the government's announcement of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill. Here's what we can expect this year and beyond.
Madelein Barkhuizen, executive manager of sales, distribution, marketing & communication, Bestmed Medical Aid Scheme |
Uncertainty of the future
The latter part of this year has been characterised by talk of the NHI Bill that was tabled before Parliament in August. In its current format, the Bill aims to cover every South African, employed or unemployed, regardless of their income level. The socio-economic status of members will not influence the quality of healthcare that they receive.
Although specific implementation details have not yet been finalised, what has been communicated so far is that it will not officially eliminate individuals’ choice to opt for private medical healthcare. A central administrator will be responsible for regulating which medical services will be covered by whom, at what point and to what degree.
In what many have deemed as a surprise move, the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has begun to implement certain changes. In Circular 80 of 2019 dated 4 December 2019, the CMS announced that it would be abandoning a decade-long project to make private healthcare available to about 8 million lower-income households. This move is in support of the proposed NHI. In the next 12 months, we expect to see pronouncements on the vaguer details of the Bill with no drastic changes to medical aid schemes and cover.
Scheme and option changes
Members typically consider changing their medical aid options or even medical aid schemes at the end of the year. They would have been able to consider the financial impact that membership fee increases will have on their budgets. In recent years, many medical schemes endeavoured to create options and medical aid plans to cater to lower income households like, for example, income-based options. The uptake for the options has been expectantly high. With the CMS’ stance on medical aid cover and insurance to lower-income households, it will be incumbent on medical aid schemes to reposition in order to be able to continue to provide quality medical cover to the affected citizens in the year 2021.
Price regulations
Earlier this year, the Competition Commission released its findings from the Health Market Inquiry (HMI). It found that the private healthcare sector is "highly concentrated” and is characterised by over-utilisation. It was also reported that the rate of utilisation was without demonstrated improvements in health outcomes as would be expected from an industry with high and rising costs of healthcare and medical scheme cover.
With the implementation of the NHI being a long-term project, we anticipate that in the interim, private healthcare costs will be regulated more closely to manage costs and identify fraud and misuse.
Shift to primary healthcare
In light of the proposed changes to public and private health cover, primary healthcare should be of paramount importance in the next year. It has been our government’s stated intention to provide primary healthcare and health services that are safe, comprehensive, integrated, accessible and of high quality. It will be essential now to provide and improve facilities and resources so as to create a conducive environment for the NHI to perform sustainably and effectively.
Over the next year, we anticipate a consultative process including government, the CMS, medical aid schemes, as well as private and public healthcare stakeholders, in an effort to provide a framework that ultimately addresses healthcare needs, whilst recognising fiscal constraints.
About the author
Madelein Barkhuizen is the executive manager of sales, distribution, marketing & communication at Bestmed Medical Aid Scheme.
Don't miss BizTrends2021 - 8 keynote speakers forecast trends shaping business in our region! Register now!
Read more: medical schemes, NHI