Category — Home Healthcare

New German Health Minister Takes Aim At Traditional Pharma Companies.

Newly appointed German Healthcare Minister Philipp Roesler – liberal – Free Democratic Party in likely move to break big pharma stronghold and submit new products to insurance pricing scrutiny and impose an “efficiency and clinical effectiveness /outcomes” pricing performance ratio.

Not totally dissimilar to the British NICE economic and clinical effectiveness system.

Sign of the times perhaps to introduce new effectiveness and economic liberalization in the DME (durable medical equipment) sector of the ever increasing homecare industry.

Maybe not – Roesler is clearly risking his parties popularity as a junior member in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat Party.

Bridgepoint will be concluding the acquisition of UK care services provider Care UK.

Care UK provides care services through it’s facilities as well as in the growing home care sector. In addition they are a provider of NHS Walk-In centers. The acquisition is valued at 309 million Euro (about 460 million US Dollars).

Jamie Wyatt, director responsible for Bridgepoint’s UK healthcare investment activity, said, “Today’s offer is a fair one that comes with the unanimous recommendation of the independent directors of Care UK to the Care UK shareholders, and which will allow Care UK to accelerate growth and undertake selective acquisitions in a way that it was unable to as a quoted business.”

As an aside this compares in several ways with the 920 million US Dollar investment that Blackstone made to take (homecare services provider) Apria private in the USA. We wrote about this last year “Why Invest In Homecare? – Revisited – Blackstone Bids For Apria“.

Of course Care UK and Bridgepoint will continue to be going up against the likes of the agile and behemoth Bupa who is also not sitting still.

To view other Bridgepoint healthcare investments click here and adjust the tab.

With the age and population demographic being so favorable, these types of deals in services and facilities will only continue.

Frank Barlin is Managing Partner at Sibaya LifeScience!

Reimbursement pressures subside in France – French homecare market a growth opportunity – cautious optimism…

Bastide, a French public traded homecare provider reports revenue up move of 3,5% Q2 2009 – 2010. This follows the troublesome legislative change in “les Etablissements d’Hébergement pour Personnes Agées Dépendantes (EHPAD)” (read Institutional reimbursement), the negative effect of which appears to have leveled off. In addition the regular homecare sector has continued it’s positive trend.

BASTIDE: Interim Results 2009-2010 & Resumption of growth in 2nd quarter)

Résultats semestriels 2009-2010 (Euronext)
(01/03/10 07:30 CET)

BASTIDE LE CONFORT MEDICAL

Résultats semestriels 2009-2010

Reprise de la croissance au 2ème trimestre

En K€ 2008-2009 2009-2010 Var.
Chiffre d’affaires 1er trimestre 24 427 22 782 - 6,7%
Chiffre d’affaires 2ème trimestre 26 846 27 778 +3,5%
Chiffre d’affaire 1er semestre 51 272 50 560 - 1,4%
[Read more →]

Sunrise Medical was listed along with an illustrious group of companies in Quality Magazine.

Good to see a homecare/ mobility manufacturer in the top 100 (60)

Hat tip Homecare Monday

There is no doubt that with the strengthening dollar, costs for homecare products are set to rise in Europe. Most manufacturers and distributors of wheelchairs and other homecare products extensively source wheelchairs or components from China, where products are usually procured in US Dollars.

A quick glance at a ten year chart will show that a 10% or more swing in a relatively short time is not outside of the realm of possibility. It is also interesting to note the close linking of the Yuan (despite the US wish that that it will be allowed to float more in the future).

Of course with the largest revenues derived from Government reimbursement business, increasing prices is not going to be that easy. So it seems that the industry may be in for another round of restructuring, standardizing on lower featured products, or perhaps worse.

There are of course better ways to run sourcing and supply chain operations that are mostly dependent on China, but in an industry largely driven by cost, many companies have largely ignored these options – maybe at their peril.

Here is Business Week’s take on the fluctuating exchange rates.

Dollar Rises for Sixth Week Versus Euro After Fed Rate Increase – BusinessWeek.

Frank Barlin is Managing Partner at Sibaya LifeScience!

From Homecare Monday

So – surprise surprise – in the latest round of proposals there is one that orders an investigation possibly that manufacturers of homecare products are going to be asked to bid.

Of course we have been saying for some time that the traditional supply lines between manufacturers and dealers / distributors / buying organizations are blurring, not only as a result of this competitive pressure but the bar has been lowered because of the ease of Asian sourcing for manufacturers and distributors alike.

This is happening in several countries in Europe as well – come to think of it the British NHS – the biggest supplier of wheelchairs in the UK, has been doing it for years.

Permobil has announced that they will be establishing a brand new 120000 sq ft facility in the US – 80000 of this will be dedicated to manufacturing.

This comes at a time where National Competitive Bidding, Medicare cuts and China outsourcing are the norm for several wheelchair manufacturers.

Lebanon, TN (October 20, 2009) — Permobil, Inc., an international company that is the world’s leading manufacturer of custom-made powered wheelchairs, will build its new $12 million North American Operations Center in Lebanon on a 17-acre site located in Park 840. The project is the largest, single capital investment that Permobil has ever made since it was established more than 40 years ago. Permobil’s new 120,000 square foot building will be the company’s second largest and most technically-advanced manufacturing facility. It will include over 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space and nearly 40,000 square feet of corporate office space. Construction of the new building will begin in late October 2009 and is slated for completion in summer 2010.