The Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry
About Industry Participants
Contents
4. 🔬 Medical Technology Companies
6. 🏢 Not-For-Profit Organizations
7. 🏙 Consumer Technology Companies
👩⚕ Healthcare Providers
Individuals and institutions that directly provide medical care to patients
1. Medical Professionals 👨⚕️
(i) Medical Specialists:
Physicians who focus on specific areas of medicine
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Physicians/Internists: Specialize in specific areas of medicine (like cardiology, pulmonology, endocrinology)
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Surgeons: Go inside patient bodies i.e. perform surgeries to treat medical conditions
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Hospitalists: Physicians delivering comprehensive medical care to hospitalized patients
(ii) General Practitioner (GP): (Family Practice Doctors/Family Medicine Doctors/Primary Care Physician)
- Provide primary care services to their patients and refer patients with complex medical conditions to specialists for additional care
- They act as first point of consultation for most patients and must have a wide range of knowledge
(iii) Allied Health Professionals:
- Healthcare professionals who are not physicians, nurses, dentists or pharmacists
- They include physician assistants, dental hygienists, occupational and physical therapists, laboratory scientists, radiographers, etc.
2. Health Care Facilities 🏥
Healthcare facility types:
Hospitals: (Medical centers)
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These are primary healthcare facility in every healthcare system. Healthcare services: acute care including inpatient surgery, emergency room services and intensive care, outpatient services, rehabilitation therapy, etc.
- Classification I:
- Public hospitals: funded (and often managed) by governments
- Private hospitals: Not funded by governments. Could by non-profit or for-profit
- Classification II:
- General hospitals: Also called Community hospitals or district hospitals, these provide wide range of healthcare services
- Specialty hospitals: Focus on providing healthcare services related to specific medical condition (such as cancer hospital) or type of patient (such as children’s hospital)
- Teaching hospitals: (University hospitals/academic medical centers/Research hospitals) In addition to treating patients, teaching hospitals also serve as training facilities for physicians and medical students. Some are also active in clinical research.
- Classification I:
Health clinics:
- smaller than a hospital, focus on smaller set of healthcare services
Outpatient centers:
- provide specific diagnosis and treatment services to patients on an outpatient basis
- They include: surgery centers, diagnostic imaging centers, commercial laboratories, rehabilitation centers
Urgent care centers:
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Health clinics equipped to diagnose and treat a broad spectrum of medical conditions (beyond what clinics provide)
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Also called immediate care, walk-in care, convenient care centers. These act as alternative to hospital emergency departments
Chronic care centers:
- Provide long-term healthcare services on an inpatient basis
- Chronic care centers include long-term rehabilitation facilities, behavioral facilities, residential care facilities, nursing homes.
- Provide many healthcare services focused on chronic care, including: medical supervision, 24-h nursing care, occupational and physical therapy, social services, assisted living services.
Halthcare facility ownership structures:
- Public health care facilities: funded directly by government agencies. Seek to provide the highest level of service possible without going over budget
- Non-profit healthcare facilities: funded by non-profit associations, such as religious organizations. Seek to provide highest level of service possible within budgetary constraints
- For-profit healthcare facilities: seek to generate profitability for their owners (or shareholders). Most medical practices and many hospitals, clinics and outpatient centers are for-profit
3. Home Health Providers 🏠
- Provide services to patients in their homes
- Include Home health agencies, home care agencies, hospice care providers, staffing agencies
💰 Healthcare Payers
- Organizations that pay for healthcare
- Some healthcare costs are payed directly by patients (or absorbed by providers. But most healthcare costs are payed by third-party payers, which include:
- Government
- Health insurance companies
- Non-profit associations
🧬 Biopharma Companies
- Provide products and services to improve medical care, including drugs and diagnostic tests
- Include:
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Biotech firms
🔬 Medical Technology Companies
- Provide products and services to support healthcare providers, including diagnostic imaging equipment, implants, prosthetics and information technology (IT)
- Include:
- Medical technology manufacturers
- Healthcare IT companies
🏛 Governments
- Depending on the type of healthcare system, (national/regional/local) governments may serve as:
- Industry regulators
- Healthcare providers
- Healthcare payers
- Governments strongly influence healthcare and its advancement
🏢 Not-For-Profit Organizations
- Many NPOs participate in healthcare and life sciences industry to advance medical research and expand medical care for patients
- Include:
- WHO
- NGOs like Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
🏙 Consumer Technology Companies
- These companies have been attracted to healthcare industry because of its long-term growth potential
- E.g. Google, Apple, IBM