HBI’s annual conference took place last week and we’re still enjoying the highlights. The event was HBI’s Paris debut – after 15 years in London! It brought in nearly 900 delegates from 500 companies and 44 countries, with more than 120 investment firms and over 150 healthcare providers.
Following our opening reception in partnership with Siemens Healthineers at the Shangri-La with views of the Eiffel Tower, the event saw two full days of panel sessions and workshops covering private hospitals, elderly care, dental, ophthalmology, imaging, laboratories, veterinary services, aesthetics, consumer health, pharmacies and more (not forgetting networking!).
Some key topics and trends stood out.
One recurring theme throughout was that it is possible to deliver more efficient care while maintaining — or even improving — the patient experience. This can apply, for example, to UK ophthalmology groups who can double patient throughput for cataract surgery by reducing the administrative burden on staff; or to elderly care providers using specially designed facilities based on the needs of residents; or German outpatient intensive care providers that have developed a long-term model of care for adults better suited to them, and cheaper, outside of hospital; as well as hospital and outpatient groups designing personalised care pathways.
A growing focus on ‘holistic’ healthcare was also prominent. The oral health panel addressed links to diseases like dementia and cancer, highlighting the need for more investment, technology, and partnerships for oral care generally to help with both prevention and early diagnosis. Meanwhile, a session on weight loss showcased prescription weight loss services seeing most demand for holistic care, including not just medication but behavioural, lifestyle and emotional/mental health support. This similarly ties into prevention with obesity linked to other related health conditions.
A 360 view of the patient cropped up in the dementia session too, where Marc Saillon, CEO of Almage Alzheimer Centers, said:
“We work in self-esteem, because often with dementia comes depression. And if you fight this then you can do it without the drugs. Families are also essential, because dementia impacts not just the person but people close to them. The reason I say this is because dealing with dementia does not require more needs, more time or more staff. It requires more skills with the aim of providing quality of life.”
Like last year, the growing utilisation of AI was evident in most sessions, with a key takeaway being that it needs to be accurate to both support clinicians (not replace them!) and built with the frontline team who will be using it in mind. “When you make people a part of the solution they are much less threatened by it," David Reich, Chief Clinical Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, said.
Another topic which featured no less prominently than last year was the huge investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Youssef Haidar, Founder and Executive Director of Nexus Gulf described it as a “rich country, but really an emerging market”, with futuristic under-construction megaproject NEOM a particular focal point.
One new addition to the agenda this year was procurement, with a panel on this showcasing Vivalto Santé’s group-purchasing model, which leverages its pan-European network to improve procurement efficiency (many people commented that they were happy procurement was being discussed at HBI!).
In the Keynote on Innovation, Growth and Barriers to Success Ilya Trakhtenberg, Managing Director at L.E.K., emphasised the need to kill concepts that will fail as early as possible and tilt investment towards things with better odds of success.
Finally, in HBI 2025’s closing remarks, our Events Director Lee Murray spoke on the importance of leveraging scale to actually deliver bigger and better healthcare, partnership being a muscle that needs to be exercised and transformation requiring a wholesale mindset shift.
Filmed panel sessions will be available on the HBI 2025 app and in-depth conference coverage is coming soon.
We hope to see you at HBI 2026, 23-25 March!
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