Health care in Latin America: Novartis, OPKO, others share trends

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Here’s one way to cut health care expenses in the United States: Send patients to top hospitals in Latin America, where costs are lower and innovative procedures often are available faster anyway.

“To get a product to market here in the United States can take 10 to 15 years,” said Mike Carricarte Sr,. chairman of IOS Health Systems, a provider of web-based health care records and veteran in health care insurance in the Americas. 

Lasik eye surgery was common in Latin America and other regions long before U.S. approval, and a cost-effective and reversible prostate treatment now available in Latin America, Canada and elsewhere remains off-limits in the USA, pending government authorization, said Carricarte.

Mike Carricarte Sr,. chairman of IOS Health Systems.The future for health care may well involve doctors in different countries meeting over video-conference to discuss x-rays and other materials and provide their opinions, and then, insurers offering patients options for care in their home country or others – depending on the best value for treatment, he said.

Carricarte was one of four panelists at WorldCity’s Global Connections held Nov. 22 on the outlook for health care in Latin America, an event that attracted nearly 100 people and lively discussion.

Speakers pointed to new trends that are improving the quality of care in the Latin American region, including efforts by business to work more closely with governments to share information.

Closer business-government collaboration

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis, for example, is helping Mexico pay to analyze local data about certain diseases that the company addresses, so that authorities can understand the impact of those diseases in their country and assign funds for equipment, medicine and other treatments, said Steve Geohagen, who directs integrated health care franchises for Latin America and Canada for the company.

Steve Geohagen, who directs integrated health care franchises for Latin America and Canada, for NovartisNovartis is working toward a culture of “open kimono: I’ll show you mine, and you show me yours,” so all parties involved can gather better data and make better decisions, said Geohagen.

Also spurring improvement: an expanding middle class that can afford better care and demands it.

While private hospitals for the rich can be excellent in the region, public care for the poor often lags. Many systems lack basic data, so people die without knowing what had ailed them, panelists said.

“The trend of using Big Data in the United States is really changing heath care,” said Lee Lovely, vice president for Latin America at Kinetic Concepts, which makes high-tech products to treat wounds. “We’ll see the same trend in Latin America.” Lee Lovely, vice president for Latin America at Kinetic Concepts,

Better data should help hospitals boost efficiency, driving down costs and improving outcomes. It also should make it easier for patients and insurers to choose providers based on costs, said Lovely.

“In the future (in the United States), you’ll see decisions based on data and not on which company can curry favor with the doctor (who selects providers often based on his own profit),” said Lovely.

Regional leaders in health care

The countries providing the most effective health care in Latin America today include Chile, Costa Rica and Panama, nations also known for greater “transparency” in government, said panelist Orlando Castellanos, medical director for OPKO Health, which specializes in diagnostics and drugs.

Orlando Castellanos, medical director for OPKO Health.As transparency increases across the region, health care also should improve, said Castellanos. 

In the United States, there’s also a growing focus on preventive care to cut health care costs. Is that taking off in Latin America too?, asked audience member Francia Baez Guzman, head of global engagement for financial services giant Visa International.

“(Preventive care) is spreading in Latin America,” especially among large employers, said insurance veteran Carricarte. But “it will never work without responsibility.” Companies need to say more clearly to workers: “You want to smoke, you want to do drugs, I’m not covering you,” Carricarte told the group.

Global Connections is one of six event series organized by media company WorldCity to bring together executives on international business topics. The Global series is sponsored by real estate company Waterford at Blue Lagoon, Florida International University’s school of business, public relations firm Edelman, and air-conditioning and heating manufacturer Daikin-McQuay.

The next Global Connections event is set for Jan. 24 on the global economic outlook for 2014.

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