In the healthcare ecosystem, all the pieces matter.
Fans of the acclaimed HBO crime drama The Wire may recognise the quote, “all the pieces matter”. David Simon applies this to Baltimore’s social and criminal ecosystem through the character of Detective Lester Freamon. Given that the series covers every aspect of life in the city, including the world-famous Johns Hopkins hospital, I hope it’s not too much of a stretch for me to borrow that quote for this blog about healthcare ecosystems.
Healthcare investors of all types, whether from the public or private sectors, recognise that delivering better patient outcomes is at the heart of their mission. Healthcare is a complex ecosystem that serves a fundamental human need. The questions of who pays and how they pay to meet this need shape most national healthcare systems, whether they are modelled on social insurance, private insurance, or an NHS-style system.
In a world where most national healthcare systems are experiencing lower levels of government funding, and where patients are voting with their wallets by either paying for care out of pocket or via Private Medical Insurance (PMI) it's clear that the private sector will play a bigger role.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have the potential to deliver healthcare infrastructure and services, though the appetite for them varies significantly across different governments. Regardless, private sector companies are already providing services for both private and public sectors often in the form of long-term contracts between public sector entities and private companies. In the best of all worlds, this can mean that the public benefits while risks and responsibilities are shared and the private sector brings in much needed innovation.
Private sector participation
Private sector expertise and capital is being deployed throughout the healthcare ecosystem, from services such as hospitals and care facilities to digital health innovators. It also extends through pharma services, biotech, medical devices, diagnostics, Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), and even into seemingly mundane but very important back-office solutions, including logistics, procurement, data warehousing, and security.
All the pieces of the healthcare ecosystem matter and many are right for private sector participation. Value creation can and is increasingly happening using innovative and responsible approaches. Impact investors in particular are able to deliver societal value alongside shareholder value - a capability that many institutional investors see as a crucial qualification for their investments.
HBI exists to support investors, particularly private equity and property investors, to develop their investment strategies across what can often seem more like multiple markets (so many sub-sectors and geographies) than one single if complex healthcare ecosystem.
Having spent most of our efforts up to now helping investors to understand European services markets, HBI is now expanding into adjacent areas to offer the same support across life sciences and healthcare IT. Initially focussing on pharma services and medtech, especially CROs, CDMOs, digital health and diagnostic tools. (Plus, we are now already across a wider geographic footprint covering markets including China, India, and the Middle East with regularity).
What does this mean?
As a sneak peak, HBI 2026 Paris, March 23 - 25, will introduce dedicated life sciences and medtech streams for the very first time. We’ve increased the conference to three full days to be able to do this whilst continuing to serve our existing core sectors. Expect to get a first look at the full agenda at the start of September.
Meanwhile, as part of our online membership service we are already writing news stories about developments in life sciences and healthcare IT that are relevant to investors. Look out for updates about how and when we will introduce data and analyses covering the same areas which are coming soon!
In the meantime, if you have thoughts about how HBI covers the healthcare ecosystem or would like to find out more about how we can help your organisation I’d love to hear from you. Please contact me on thomas@healthcarebusinessinternational.com or by phone on +44(0) 204 5371 364