Competition Commission: What the hospitals say

clock

Private healthcare groups have rejected findings from the Competition Commission including the assertion that their hospitals face little competition, exercise market power or make excessive profits at the expense of patients.

Stephen Collier, chief executive of BMI Healthcare described such findings as "simply wrong because they are based on a flawed analysis of the reality of providing high quality private healthcare."

Rob Roger, chief executive of Spire Healthcare "strongly disagreed" with such findings and said they were contrary to evidence presented to the Commission.

BMI's Collier insisted BMI Healthcare does not "hold the whip hand" in terms of its relationship with medical insurers.

He said: "Networks are created and maintained by insurers, not hospital operators, and insurers use them to drive competition between hospitals for network status.

"Insurers can - and do - exclude hospitals from the networks they created as Bupa did by excluding 37 BMI hospitals from its networks less than two years ago, leaving the ‘delisted' hospitals with the same high fixed costs, but with significantly reduced income, while the insurers continued to receive subscription income and send patients elsewhere.

"Medical inflation - and premiums for private medical insurance - have been rising fast in recent years, but our prices to insurers have risen more slowly. This does not support the Commission's provisional conclusion that BMI Healthcare has market power when negotiating with insurers."

Collier pointed out that BMI's facilities face significant local competition from other private hospitals and increasingly the NHS. He said its belief that BMI Healthcare makes excess profits ignores financial realities such as the costs of keeping hospitals equipped in a depressed UK market.

However, BMI Healthcare, HCA and Spire Healthcare all welcomed guidance on incentivising consultants and a push for greater transparency and outcomes for patients.

Meanwhile in a statement, HCA said it is disappointed that quality of clinical care and investment in innovation and its benefit for patients seems to have been ignored by the Competition Commission.

Keith Biddlestone, commercial director at HCA International, said: "Ten years ago, hospitals now owned by HCA were sold because they weren't thought viable. Huge investment by HCA has converted them into world-class centres offering innovative, complex care in a safe clean, compassionate environment that patients around the world seek out every day."

BMI's Collier said while healthcare markets are  dynamic and complex, and hard to regulate appropriately, he was disappointed and suprised by the evidence which deviated from the group's analysis and some of the Commission's previous views.

"Nevertheless we appreciate that these are the Commission's initial, provisional, findings and we intend to work constructively with the Commission over the next few weeks so that its determinations - and associated remedies - do not undermine private healthcare to the detriment of those who matter - our patients" he concluded.

 

 

More on PMI

Three quarters of adults say private healthcare is unaffordable
PMI

Three quarters of adults say private healthcare is unaffordable

Benenden Health research shows

Jaskeet Briah
clock 26 March 2024 • 2 min read
NFP acquires PMI intermediary
PMI

NFP acquires PMI intermediary

Bolstering employee benefits capabilities

Jaskeet Briah
clock 26 March 2024 • 1 min read
Corporate demand drives insured private health admissions
PMI

Corporate demand drives insured private health admissions

Self-pay admissions are plateauing

Jaskeet Briah
clock 25 March 2024 • 2 min read

Highlights

COVER Survey: Advisers damning of protection insurer service levels

COVER Survey: Advisers damning of protection insurer service levels

"It takes longer than ever to get underwriting terms"

John Brazier
clock 12 October 2023 • 5 min read
Online reviews trump price for young people selecting life and health cover

Online reviews trump price for young people selecting life and health cover

According to latest ReMark report

John Brazier
clock 11 October 2023 • 2 min read
ABI members with staff neurodiversity policy nearly doubles

ABI members with staff neurodiversity policy nearly doubles

Women within executive teams have grown to 32%

Jaskeet Briah
clock 10 October 2023 • 3 min read