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SME Hospitals Join Forces To Strenghthen Health Offer

Javier Potes - Consorcio Mexicano de Hospitales
Director General

STORY INLINE POST

Wed, 11/01/2017 - 17:12

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Q: What are the main advantages hospitals get from joining Consorcio Mexicano de Hospitales (CMH)?

A: The consortium now consists of 40 hospitals distributed in 38 cities in 23 states. We have 1,150 beds, 9,000 doctors and 86,100 hospitalized patients. The main advantages are the numerous opportunities to establish contacts. Since most of our members are small to medium-sized hospitals, it is difficult for them to compete with their larger counterparts. These hospitals are happy to share information because due to their location they do not compete with each other.

Membership also allows these hospitals to participate in consolidated sales and negotiate better prices for medications and medical devices. We are the country’s first private healthcare network but many more can be generated in the coming years.

Q: What information is exchanged among members of the consortium?

A: All members participate in yearly meetings according to area, from management to marketing. In these meetings, hospitals share successful strategies and discuss common problems.

Q: How is the consortium implementing a single electronic clinical file among its members and what advantages will patients see?

A: Apollo Health, one of our strategic allies, is in charge of implementing and managing electronic clinical files in all hospitals that belong to the consortium. Together, we are developing Sumar Salud, an application through which patients can access their own electronic clinical file and share it with other hospitals in the network. Sumar Salud was designed to gather all the information related to service providers, including doctors, hospitals and clinics to make it easier for the patient to review and make more informed decisions.

Q: How does this hospital network help improve the overall healthcare system?

A: We are the first private healthcare network in Mexico. We want more hospitals to join this model and increase access to care, since the public sector lacks the necessary infrastructure to manage the large number of patients it receives.

Mexico’s healthcare system focuses on treating diseases, not on promoting healthcare. For that reason, many are looking to strengthen prevention practices. Sumar Salud also brings together these services, so those who are healthy can continue to be so. To implement this, the consortium developed two insurance plans alongside Seguros Atlas and Banorte that cover 90 percent of the most common diseases with a small deducible. These insurance programs aim to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure.

Q: What continuous education programs does the consortium provide to its members?

A: The Consortium has an Integral Training Center which develops and strengthens the skills of all collaborators through our special programs for the direction, management and operative levels distributed on the clinic and administrative areas. These programs are headed to elevate the quality service and the effectiveness in their hospitals, resulting in the increase of their competitiveness in the market.

The Integral Training Center collaborates with the international organization LILAS, integrated by the national hospital associations of Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Spain, and also with universities and medical academies.

These latter entities contribute with their academic experience and help to validate our diplomas, which are already validated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

Q: What is CMH looking for in future strategic partners?

A: We look for strategic allies that allow us to develop projects that help our hospitals individually and in our system as a whole and programs that offer health services with a higher quality and a more accessible cost for the population.

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