Better normal

Posted on 1 March 2021

Mediclinic’s patient-first philosophy is evolving, with a number of next-generation, digital-first initiatives designed to ensure an integrated, accessible, value-based treatment journey. Welcome to our better normal.

Healthcare is changing. That’s not a secret.

But what is new is our approach to that change. Are we positive about it, and proactive? Are our teams and facilities empowered to provide in new ways for our patients? With every interaction, with every consultation and procedure, for the sake of the people who rely on us, let’s help to improve the experience of every single person who visits our hospitals.”

Koert Pretorius is passionate about patients. Mediclinic has long put the patient at the centre of every aspect of the business, innovating and evolving in order to ensure we are able to offer expert, appropriate care across a range of specialisms. Now, his focus is on the future.

The CEO of Mediclinic Southern Africa is currently overseeing the hospital group’s wide-ranging response to the region’s worst-ever public health crisis – an experience that left him, and his executive management committee, more forward-focused than ever.

“In healthcare, value is everything,” explains Pretorius. “But what does value look like in this changing landscape? When we say we are positive about change, we mean we are passionate about giving patients the right treatment, in the right place, at the right time and at the right price. It means we put our patients, and what they want and need, first.”

THE VALUE OF CARE

A rapidly evolving world has prospective patients thinking carefully about the where, when and how of their healthcare. Mediclinic is expanding to answer these concerns by initiating personalised solutions that make quality healthcare more efficient, and more accessible, than ever. To do this, the group is growing its continuum of care in new and exciting directions.

“In developed and developing countries alike, in both the public- and private-sector context, healthcare is an expensive commodity,” says Pretorius. “When we look at the costs of specialist salaries or world-class medical and technological equipment – healthcare is expensive to provide, and it is expensive to consume. And this is a worldwide challenge.”

Mediclinic is changing the delivery models of its services to meet that challenge for the benefit of our patients.

“There is a need to migrate healthcare, where possible, out of the acute hospital environment and into more cost- effective, more appropriate settings that suit the patient better. That may be in their doctor’s consulting rooms, or even in their own homes, via video link.”

Day clinics, for example, enable doctors and hospitals to perform procedures at a more affordable rate, and achieve quality clinical outcomes. Mediclinic has developed co-located Day clinics at seven hospitals, including Durbanville, Stellenbosch, Nelspruit, Limpopo and Welkom. These facilities accommodate planned procedures, and allow for admission and discharge on the same day, providing a high standard of clinical care.

Another advancement that puts the patient’s changing requirements first is Mediclinic’s recent partnership with Intercare, a nationwide group of primary healthcare centres that are home to general practitioners, nurses, pharmacists and allied health providers, such as dentists. These centres have also explored opportunities in the form of virtual consultations that are transforming the quality and accessibility of care our patients receive, says Pretorius.

A further enhancement of the patient journey is Mediclinic’s Private Fixed Fees, a programme that offers a bouquet of diagnostic and surgical procedures at a predictable and transparent rate. Mediclinic’s Private Fixed Fees are a quoted amount for a planned procedure that includes the hospital costs related to the clinical treatment received for the duration of stay in hospital, regardless of the level of care required. The goal is simple: to provide peace of mind for private-paying patients who prioritise a predictable, transparent experience.

Patients now have access to high-quality, efficient care across an ever-wider spectrum of services. These partnerships emphasise value- based care by ensuring quality, measurable outcomes, with less rehabilitation and recovery time, at a more affordable rate.

Mediclinic’s continuum of care is designed to make quality, evidence-based healthcare accessible to everyone, in the most appropriate way. If you would like emergency treatment on the scene of an accident, or want to book a check-up or schedule an elective procedure, or even require major surgery, there are pathways in place to ensure you enjoy a simple, integrated and efficient experience throughout.

These are major benefits, says Pretorius, but that’s not all.

THE VALUE OF CONNECTION

The way people engage with their healthcare is changing, says Pretorius. “Whether it is because of the way the COVID-19 pandemic has focused our attention on viruses and ventilators, or simply because we are more connected, via social media, than ever, we find people are more knowledgeable when it comes to their health than even a

few years ago. That is a good thing. It means our patients are interested, and invested. And we want them to know that when they have questions, we are here for them.”

While an expanded continuum of care makes access to expert healthcare easier and more affordable for all, Mediclinic aims to take that strategy a step further. Delivering expert care
in person, or in a facility, is no longer necessarily what many patients want or need.

“When you look at the way patients are treated over years, typically, the healthcare they receive is unfortunately a fragmented experience,” Pretorius says. “This means you will consult with a GP, see a specialist or surgeon, and receive years of ongoing rehabilitative care, all as separate steps and segmented processes, even in different places and at different rates. In that way, patients will waste not only money, but time, as they navigate a condition or procedure. That’s not ideal. It could be easier, and more efficient, for everyone involved.”

This is why Mediclinic’s continuum of care is enhanced by a client-facing digital backbone, which facilitates ongoing, ever-ready engagement between a patient and their doctor, online. “If you are at home, beginning to think of starting a family, or in another country, and you need specialist follow-up care even years after surgery, those are drastically different scenarios that we can help address in much the same way: we aim to bring our expertise into the palm of your hand.”

Patients now have access to evergreen expertise via client-facing initiatives such as Mediclinic Baby, for those wanting to start a family, and Mediclinic Prime, for those who are active and want to focus on a continued healthy lifestyle. These programmes help establish a relationship between a patient and their prospective doctor before they need care. More crucially, they help establish a relationship of trust between Mediclinic and our patients.

Public-facing applications help patients lean on trustworthy expertise to understand their conditions, and their options, better than ever, and they allow Mediclinic to take better care of our patients, over the course of a lifetime.

Mediclinic envisions a more efficient treatment journey, which begins long before an initial consultation and extends to well after recovery: a clinical pathway that interconnects
a multidisciplinary team of specialists, all drawing on a unified patient record. These are efficiencies designed to ensure a better outcome, and a better experience.

“The way we engage with our patients, and the way we design and construct our continuum of care, all of this is with one goal in mind: we want to continually improve the standard of our care,” says Pretorius.

Change is inevitable, and change is good. “We hear so much about how we are living in a new normal. But we don’t want to go backwards, or to keep on doing the same things in the same ways. We want to improve our products, our services, our relationships. We want our patients to benefit from an improved experience. We want to be better. And we want to make being better, normal. That’s the future. That’s our better normal.”