As the COVID-19 pandemic appears poised to continue into the fall, the reinsurance industry is collaborating with healthcare executives on how to mitigate the effects of the virus on the sector, and telemedicine and virtual care solutions have proved themselves to be viable healthcare options, though costs are currently high.
Even as healthcare in markets such as the United States gains new access points, Asia’s healthcare system is still characterized as hospital-dependent. Asia also still faces an acute supply shortage, compared to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average, due to the high capital expenditure required to build and operate traditional hospitals and the lack of clinical talent, according to Oliver Wyman Asia Pacific Health & Life Sciences colleagues, Kitty Lee, Partner and Head of Asia Pacific, Matt Zafra, Principal and Sangho Lee, Engagement Manager, among others. Oliver Wyman is an affiliate of Guy Carpenter.
To further add to the list, a generally under-developed primary care system, nascent health technology adoption and the impact of COVID-19 have all accelerated the need to revisit the traditional healthcare industry in Asia. Now may be an opportune time for Asia’s providers to consider how their portfolios should adapt to a reinvention of care delivery and leapfrog to Asia’s Digital Hospital of Tomorrow.
Guy Carpenter has been developing a view of how COVID-19 may impact the medical (re)insurance market.
