The healthcare industry is on the cusp of a massive transformation, with digital health and artificial intelligence continuing to reshape how care is delivered. As a result, we’re seeing increased focus on partnerships between healthcare providers and tech companies as well as other non-healthcare businesses. This type of collaboration is known as corporate partnering or corporate medicine, which involves a non-healthcare company becoming involved in the delivery of healthcare services (for example, by staffing primary care clinics). In this blog post, we explore what corporate partnering in healthcare is, its benefits for both partners, and examples of different types of corporate partnerships.
What is Corporate Practice of Medicine?
Corporate medicine refers to a non-healthcare company becoming involved in the delivery of healthcare services. This type of collaboration is known as corporate partnering or corporate medicine, which involves a non-healthcare company becoming involved in the delivery of healthcare services (for example, by staffing primary care clinics). Corporate partnering in healthcare can occur along two main pathways: B2B (business to business) and B2G (business to government). B2B partnerships refer to companies outside of healthcare that are providing goods or services to the healthcare industry. B2G partnerships involve non-healthcare companies working with government or other regulatory bodies to address specific issues, like reducing the burden of paperwork.
Benefits of Corporate Medicine
There are many benefits of corporate partnering in healthcare, including: - Increased efficiency: By bringing more expertise to the table and helping to reduce administrative burdens, corporate partnerships can help improve care delivery and increase efficiency while saving time and money. - Innovation: Partners who come from outside the traditional healthcare landscape often bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to help solve longstanding problems. - Reduced risk: Partners who deliver a service for healthcare providers can help reduce the risk of incurring losses due to fraud or other issues. - Additional capital: By entering into these types of partnerships, healthcare providers may be able to tap into additional capital that would otherwise be unavailable. - Better patient experience: Partners from outside healthcare often bring new resources and approaches to improve the patient experience. - More access to talent: By forging partnerships with non-healthcare companies, health systems may be able to expand their talent pipelines by bringing in employees from outside the traditional healthcare system.
Different Types of Corporate Partnerships in Healthcare
There are many different types of corporate partnerships in healthcare. Corporate practice of medicine whereas we’ve outlined a few below, but keep in mind that these are just a few examples of the many different types of corporate partnerships in healthcare. - Joint Venture: Joint ventures involve two or more partners working together to develop a new business venture. In healthcare, a joint venture may involve a hospital and a technology company partnering to create an app that helps patients navigate the healthcare system. - Alliance: An alliance is a type of strategic partnership that includes joint development of products, services, and shared resources. In healthcare, alliances often focus on specific issues and require collaboration across functions (e.g., IT, clinical, etc.). - Contracted services: Companies often partner with healthcare providers to provide services on a contracted basis. For example, a company may contract to provide X-rays for a hospital or contract with a health system to provide certain services (e.g., behavioral care). - Licensing: A company may license its technology to healthcare providers, enabling them to use the technology without acquiring the company.
Key Takeaway on the Corporate Practice of Medicine
Corporate partnering in healthcare is a growing trend and is likely to increase over the next several years. There are many benefits to this type of collaboration, including increased efficiency, innovation, reduced risk, additional capital, and a better patient experience. The most common types of corporate partnerships include joint ventures, alliances, and contracted services.