Singapore, December 10, 2009 – The need to manage rising costs has long been on the agenda of healthcare organisations everywhere. With the financial crisis further intensifying the pressure to cut costs, reducing operating overheads will alleviate concerns about rising outlay, tight operating and profit margins as well as reactions to spiraling expenditure, allowing organisations to pass on the savings to patients.

Pacific Conferences is organising a 2-day “Cost-Effective Healthcare” conference on 4 – 5 March 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to equip delegates from the healthcare sector with insights on developing a strategy to improve cost-efficiency for increasing cost-competitiveness. Malaysia Healthcare has been appointed Media Partner for the event.

Packed with in-depth sharing from National University Hospital, UM Specialist Centre, Ramsay Healthcare Indonesia and more, this conference will delve into the challenges faced by healthcare providers and examine solutions that have been proven to improve cost-efficiency.

Conference speaker Haji Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, General Manager at KPJ Seremban Specialist Hospital mentioned that “Upon looking at the current economic scenario, cost containment is the key issue that has to be wisely managed by the healthcare providers. This can be done by the proper management of the supply chain to ensure the company will generate enough profit to sustain the business.” He is of the opinion that there is plenty of business potential for private hospitals as they can offer cheaper treatment compared to western countries while achieving the same desired outcomes.

Timothy Chang, Chief Operating Officer, Mahkota Medical Centre will be sharing his thoughts during the panel discussion. He feels that the cost of healthcare in Asia and South East Asia is also increasing at a much faster rate than the spending power of the locals. According to him, this scenario is made worse by the lure of the better revenue from foreign patients leading private healthcare providers to skew services towards foreigners, ignoring local demand. This will eventually lead to healthcare in Asia being cheap for people from America and Europe but very expensive for the locals. “I believe the challenge is to identify the standards required to provide reasonably safe healthcare to the target community without escalating costs beyond affordability.”

Other speakers in the line-up include Amir Firdaus Abdullah, CEO, Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre who will be sharing on streamlining procurement and internal distribution channels for medical supplies, David Dhevarajulu, Director for Lean Implementation and Transformation, Tan Tock Seng Hospital who will divulge how Tan Tock Seng Hospital enhanced the performance metrics of their call center and hip fracture units using Lean Management techniques and Raymond Chong, Managing Director and CEO, Samitivej Hospitals who will be providing insights on challenges and obstacles faced by healthcare providers to remain cost-competitive in Asia.

The conference will also feature a panel discussion on “Potential Issues Affecting the Cost of Healthcare Delivery”, which will delve into topics such as the implications of an ageing population on the cost of healthcare delivery and technological innovations which will improve the efficiency of patient care. The panel will also debate the ethical question of what percentage of cost-savings should private hospitals pass on to their patients and what should they keep.

Attending delegates can expect to take away ready-to-implement frameworks on reducing operational costs, managing supply chain, process improvement, outsourcing and measuring healthcare delivery effectiveness.

Conference Details can be found below:

Title: Cost-Effective Healthcare
Date & Venue: 4 – 5 March 2010, The Westin Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Time: 9 am – 5 pm

Please visit http://www.conferences.com.sg/M3221-HCM-15B-Q.pdf, or contact Ms. Lorraine Tiang at +65 6372 2201 or email lorraine@conferences.com.sg

For further enquiry on marketing and sponsorship opportunities, please contact:
Ms. Chan Boon Wah
Conference Marketing Executive
Tel: (65) 6372 2216
Email: boonwah@conferences.com.sg