Dr Thom Van Every talks to Angela Faherty about his hopes for PatientChoice and meeting the healthcare needs of consumers
With a background in medicine, Dr Thom Van Every is well placed to understand the workings of the healthcare sector. As part of his medical training at Birmingham University, Van Every spent some time working in relatively remote countries and the experience certainly influenced his current approach to healthcare and its provision.
"It's surprising how little attention people pay to their health. One of the sales messages for private medical insurance (PMI) has always been about getting the best treatment in the fastest time.
"For people with a very comfortable life, who can afford to be planning ahead that is a great solution. But then there are other people who don't know if they are going to make it to the end of the week and do not plan that far ahead," he says.
It was while working in medicine that Van Every made the decision to change the role he held in the healthcare arena.
"I found that I was spending an increasing amount of time apologising to patients for lost notes or missing scan results. As a doctor, it is demoralising and irritating in terms of your professional approach if you do not have the tools to do your job. In the end, the lack of control in how I could practice my medicine threatened my ability to be a professional, so I decided to spread my wings."
Different approach
Van Every's decision to venture into the business side of healthcare led him to PatientChoice. Officially launched in September 2003, the operation is still in the early stages of growth, but Van Every is determined that the business will succeed as it is taking a different approach to traditional PMI providers.
PatientChoice offers what it terms 'hospital treatment plans' which provide a monetary benefit for big-ticket medical expenses. The provider is positioning itself between PMI and cash plans and says the new approach reflects the ability to choose a private or NHS hospital for treatment and still receive benefits.
Van Every is keen to stress that they do not give people cash however. Instead, policyholders are given a budget with which they can seek treatment by either negotiating with the hospital themselves or by going through a sourcing system. Once the cost of treatment has been determined, any surplus cash from the benefit is sent to the policyholder. Similarly, any extra cost must be paid by the policyholder, but Van Every stresses the choice to do this is left to the patient.
"The amount of money offered by the benefit is benchmarked to BMI pricing for procedures, which is historically the most expensive in the UK. We are not just giving money to contribute to the cost of treatment; we are giving money because we believe it covers the cost of treatment."
Market potential
While some industry commentators remain sceptical about the benefits of such a plan, Van Every is keen to point out the advantages. He says that one of the key features of the PatientChoice proposition is the ability to claim for three procedures in a 12-month period.
"There are people who say that you should just put money in the bank and save it for the future. That is all well and good but most people who have one procedure usually have at least another one tagged on the end, so there is a risk that their savings will have been blown before the treatment has finished."
Van Every believes market potential lies in the individual sector. He says one of the problems facing PMI at the moment is the lack of growth and the stagnant nature of the market. This does not bother him however, as he is adamant that PatientChoice is about attracting new business. He stresses that the intention is not to steal existing business from other PMI providers, but to reach those who previously considered PMI an option for the more wealthy members of society.
"There is a whole section of society such as teachers and nurses, for example, that would not touch the main players like BUPA with a barge pole because they think it is an elitist product. And the great BUPA marketing machine for all its strengths is never going to access that section of society. This is the market we are targeting, we are not going for the market that has already been saturated."
One of the key features of the PatientChoice plan is that patients can opt to get treatment on the NHS. While the amount of NHS benefit paid out is less than for private treatment, it is the option to choose that Van Every feels is important, particularly as he believes the integration of both sectors is imperative if the healthcare sector is to move forward.
"Merging the private and public sectors is the way forward, and I think the Government is slowly working towards achieving this goal. I don't think it is going to happen quickly or universally today, but the market is moving in that direction and that is no bad thing."
Van Every believes the NHS can learn a few tricks from the private sector and that changes need to be implemented if people are to begin to appreciate the value of the healthcare service. He suggests charging to see GPs would help to lower the rate of no-shows at surgeries and would encourage people to appreciate the value and cost of healthcare.
"I am not one of those people that thinks the NHS should be entirely free to all. People who get things for free do not generally tend to value them. We have a free healthcare service now and there are still some people who do not care about their health," he says.
With regard to moving the market forward, Van Every hopes that the market will see some innovation, but he is concerned about the impact Financial Services Authority regulation may have on the sector.
Innovation
"It is clearly important to have some regulation, but too much is a bad thing. We have people complaining about a lack of innovation in the market, yet the regulator is telling companies what their brochures must look like. We shouldn't roundly endorse all regulation without appreciating that it does stifle innovation."
Looking ahead, Van Every is determined to drive PatientChoice forward. Despite his medical training he feels that he will probably not return to medicine, but instead will focus on product development at PatientChoice.
"Sitting here today I do not know if I will go back to medicine, but the longer I am out of it the harder it gets to go back as I would need to re-train. At the moment, my main concern is to make sure that PatientChoice grows aggressively and quickly. I am in this for the long term," he says.
