L.E.K. Consulting and GRG Health Survey - COVID-19 Impact on Asia-Pacific Hospitals
Executive Summary:
A. Responses to elective/semi-elective procedures reveal the following insights:
- The top concerns for a number of hospitals (~30%) have shifted towards staff wellness, staff capacity and hospital finances due to revenue loss from elective procedure delays; personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supply concerns have decreased for many facilities
- A majority of hospitals in China, Japan and Australia are continuing to increase elective/semi-elective procedure volumes and getting closer to normal operations; meanwhile, elective procedures in Indonesia, Philippines and India continue to be delayed or conducted at significantly reduced volumes(<40% of pre-COVID-19 levels)
- Hospitals in China, Japan, South Korea and Australia expect to reach elective/semi-elective volumes equal to ~90% of pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of Q2 2020; meanwhile, hospitals in SEA and India expect to reach a similar level by the end of Q3 2020
- In addition to government directives, reduction in COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalisationrates, a majority of hospitals (60%-70%) indicate that protocols and tools for patient intake, PPE supplies, and addressing patients’ comfort with hospital care are the most important factorsin deciding when to restart elective/semi-elective procedures
- About 50%-60% of respondents in North Asia and Australia indicate that their hospitals are prepared to restart elective/semi-elective procedures; however, most of the respondents in Southeast Asia and India (60%-70%)indicate lack of preparedness in PPE and COVID-19 testing supplies as well as inadequate protocols and tools for patient intake
- A majority of respondents (50%-60%) indicate thatcardiac/structural heart, neurosurgery and spine elective procedures will be the highest priority for their facilities to restart
- Respondents in North Asia and Australia have indicated high priorities across broader procedure categories as hospitals are looking to resume services for elective procedures
- As hospitals are prioritisingelective procedure categories to ramp up, theseverity and urgency of the procedure and availability of procedure-specific medical supplies are critical drivers
- In more impacted countries, the growing volume of backlogged cases is also an important factor
B. Insights on COVID-19’s impact on hospital inpatient capacity and post-COVID-19 planning:
- COVID-19’s impact on inpatient capacity varies across the Asia-Pacific region
- Hospitals’ inpatient capacity in Japan and China is minimally impacted, while Thailand and Australia have observed improvement in capacity over the past two weeks
- South Korea inpatient capacity has been impacted from resurgence of COVID-19 infections since mid-May
- Inpatient capacity in the Philippines, Indonesia and India has not improved over the past two weeks as COVID-19 infection rates continue to increase
- In the upcoming two weeks, hospitals in China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Australia will see minimal capacity impact; however, Indonesia, Philippines and India hospitals are likely to remain the same
- As hospitals begin to think about and plan for post-COVID-19, preparing staff to return to normal shifts, securing adequate medical supplies and resuming elective procedures are top priority areas for hospitals in APAC
- In addition, hospitals expect to see several changes to their strategy and operations post-COVID-19, notably:
- 70%-80% of hospitals expect to seesignificant investments in infection preventionand maintainPPE conservation practices
- ~40%of hospitals expect to increase clinical staffing post-COVID-19
- Post-COVID-19, hospitals are looking to manufacturers to provideassistance in managing supply risk and take greater control over produce
C. Insights on remote/digital engagement with healthcare professionals (HCPs):
- Medical reps’ hospital access has been significantly restricted during the COVID-19 crisis, and a significant proportion of HCPs (~45%) indicated that they did not engage with medical reps at all
- ~30% of HCPs use digital/remote engagement tools to engage with medical reps or to complement their in-person interactions
- Most of the remote/digital users (65%-75%) are HCPs who have used the engagement tools moderately or extensively in their practice, and most of them expect to continue using remote/digital tools post-COVID-19
- In terms of remote/digital engagement quality, HCPs indicated ahigher satisfaction level with pharma companies than with medical device companies
- A majority of HCPs (50%-55%) indicate the lack of localisedcontent (breadth and depth), poor platform design and insufficient update frequency askey barriers to increase remote/digital engagement tools usage
