The title of this year’s HBI Congress is “New models for the new era”. Could you outline the ideas behind this programme?
The healthcare sector underwent a fundamental transformation during the pandemic, the reverberations of which are still ongoing. In a short period of time, this highly regulated sector, originally rathe resistant to change, somehow slow to develop and unlock innovation, has entered a new era. The pandemic has exacerbated certain issues like access to healthcare, massive waiting lists, which almost all health services in Europe and beyond face right now, in addition to a shortage of qualified health workers.
In this new era, health awareness and patient expectations have changed, and we are observing considerable growth in private health insurance and supplementary insurance. At the same time, the ways in which healthcare is delivered is changing, with a growing proportion of ambulatory care to free up capacity and reduce costs. In this context, digital transformation opens up new perspectives and ways of working. Telemedicine and remote patient monitoring have gained ground and acceptance in recent years, and AI is on everyone’s lips. New HR strategies are also implemented to retain and attract new talent.
The HBI 2024 programme addresses all of these aspects, because we are now able to reflect on the successes we have observed, on how professionals have experimented, adapted and learned, on how hospitals are deploying new ways of engaging with patients…
Your target group is CEOs, partners and investors in the healthcare sector. What can they learn from HBI?
HBI has long been the event where provider CEOs, investors and the senior advisory and supplier community gathers to discuss business models, innovation and to deep-dive into investment and growth opportunities. We have built a community over the past fourteen years and an environment where delegates can expect to do deals or identify partners simply by walking around the venue during networking breaks.
Given the current macroeconomic environment, the past two years have been tough in healthcare services. Debt is no longer cheap, sellers retain their lofty valuation expectations based on the market in 2020-22 but buyers aren’t biting. After a tough couple of years the tide seems to be changing and in order to get deals over the line or to secure financing, banks, investors and providers and being more creative and exploring new models.
Sessions are designed to highlight this creativity but to also demonstrate how groups are approaching growth and value creation, whether that is through new products and services or digitalisation. How to scale innovation and initiatives is also a major theme as is sustainability. We mean this both in the sense of the environment, discussing how to start to move the needle on decarbonisation but also to make sure that the models being developed now and the workforce being hired and trained now, can last.
As digital transformation takes hold, a plethora of new business models have sprung up, some have worked whilst others haven’t. For example, we are starting to see Telemedicine groups turning a profit. The sector is undergoing radical change and we want to showcase these issues and the lessons learned through experimentation, through case studies that show CEOs and investors what the real opportunities are.
New for this year on the first afternoon of the event we have designed a programme of focussed workshops and CEO summits working with our partners to bring healthcare’s many sub-communities together in a new way. Through interactive workshops, case studies, debate and focussed networking we wanted delegates to experience more interaction and idea generation around specific topics. We are holding sessions on Sustainability and ESG, digital strategy and investing in Emerging Markets as well as a Dental and and Ophtalmology summit.
HBI was acquired by the French holding company Europevents, at the end of 2023, how will HBI develop?
Europevents is best known for its private equity event, IPEM held in Cannes and Paris each year. We are really excited to pursue this new avenue and to continue to expand how we cover the healthcare sector. Not much has changed, but from a content perspective we are exploring new healthcare verticals and have plans to develop new products for investors interested in the space. In practical terms this means looking for where the biggest opportunities for disruption and consolidation exist along with exploring segments such as Healthcare IT and Pharma Services. We will continue to deliver M&A, strategy and business model insight for our members and delegates across EMEA.
Europevent’s investment thesis centred around the opportunities present in the resilient and steadily growing sector and a space where it’s customers, private equity, is spending its money. HBI is one of few companies that has built a brand covering the sector in both information and events across Europe. There have been a couple of management changes, Max Hotopf who founded HBI continues to support the management team in an advisory capacity whilst Tom McMullen is our Managing Director steering our growth plans.
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