Wound Care Global

April 2018

Wound Care in Malaysia and The Emerging Markets: Interview w/ Dr. Mogan Naidu (1 of 2) [Video]

Do you feel confident in your command of global wound care? This video may cause you to reconsider… Much of our time at Diligence Wound Care Global is spent with wound care product and services CEOs, CMOs, CCOs, VPs, directors, and managers for global strategy, busdev, marketing, finance, R&D, and other functions related to commercial planning and execution. More often than not, these individuals are based in a corporate office in an established market, yet have responsibility for large geographies such as APAC, EMEA, LATAM, or even titles which include words like, “emerging markets” or “global.” True, they may indeed visit these markets, such as to attend a company-sponsored event, industry conference, or to meet with a distributor. And true, they’re typically sharp, experienced, accomplished executives from across the scientific, biomedical, healthcare, and commercial spectrum. But do they truly understand where and how their wound care solutions are evaluated and used? Unfortunately, if they have not really invested the time and resources on the ground (in actual patient care settings), the answer is usually, “no.” The opportunities and challenges for emerging market wound care are well documented. Increasingly, both clinicians and industry have been gaining interest in these regions. I’ve already been invited to speak on the topic on Nov 3rd, 2018 at SAWC Fall in Las Vegas, and will present at events in the developing markets themselves between now and then. Yet overall, most outside stakeholders are still lacking a true grasp of how to offer solutions to wound care needs in such regions. I recently visited with Dr. Mogan Naidu, a very passionate wound care provider, head of MediAsia, and founding chairman of The Malaysian Diabetic Limb Salvaging Society (MDLSS). Part 1 (below) focuses on wound care products, and Part 2 (to be released later) focuses on wound care services, including a new private wound care hospital planned for the region. Although Malaysia is just one of many emerging markets, and each market is unique, many of the themes and lessons can be applied to other regions, as well. Here’s the interview (closed captions available): Some of my key takeaways from the discussion: Despite all the talk about moving to “value based health care” in the developed markets, in many ways, Dr. Mogan and his team have already implemented a version of it: The patients are directly involved in the cost of care, but the pricing is determined by the severity level of the wound (which they divide into zones: red, yellow, green). Rather than charge the patient for each piece of product or procedure, they bill based on zones, which in many ways better aligns the incentives of the parties than either traditional fee-for-service or socialized public health care. Although resources in this environment are lacking, there is indeed access to most categories of advanced wound care products (foams, alginates, etc.). This is consistent with what I have seen across most emerging markets, especially in APAC. Not only based on the interview, but from the entire day I spent with the MediAsia team at their clinic, they do an excellent job of addressing holistic factors in patient care: Diabetes management, cardio-pulmonary status, kidney function, offloading, nutrition, and even the psychosocial status of the patient. They give more attention to these critical healing factors than literally 95%+ of wound care facilities that I have visited–and that includes countless facilities across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC. True, there are certain technologies and specialists their patients cannot easily access compared to markets with more developed healthcare infrastructure: vascular imaging/interventions, HBOT, and others can be problematic–especially for financially challenged patients such as those discussed above. However, many of these are precisely the scenarios and opportunities that innovations such as hemoglobin oxygenizers, disposable NPWT, mobile assessment and analytics platforms, and many more are able to address, resulting in potentially fast adoption in such regions, where leapfrogging entire generations of technology is already the norm. Become a keener wound care executive. Are you currently considering investing in, launching, or expanding a wound care business in the emerging markets? Get in touch to discuss how we might empower you to reach your goals.

Wound Care in Malaysia and The Emerging Markets: Interview w/ Dr. Mogan Naidu (1 of 2) [Video] Read Post »

Do you manage, invest in, or work with a challenged wound care program? This is for you…

A quick update… We’ve been super busy empowering clients’ wound care businesses so far in 2018: Engagements in Hong Kong, Malaysia, coast-to-coast in the US, and now gearing up for some groundwork in Mexico and both Eastern and Western Europe, to name just a few. In between, we’ve been attending and prepping for key industry events, including Diabetic Limb Salvage (DLS) in Washington, DC (ending today), SAWC Spring in Charlotte, North Carolina (26-29 April), followed by EWMA in Krakow, Poland (9-11 May). The rest of the year shows no signs of slowing down, either! But when Today’s Wound Clinic (TWC) Managing Editor Joe Darrah asked me to contribute to this month’s edition (April 2018), I just couldn’t turn him down. That’s because the theme of the entire edition is, “How to Fix Your Failing Wound Clinic.” It’s a topic of great interest to me, since managing wound centers forms the cornerstone of my wound care experience. In other words, it’s an important lens through which we provide our clients insights, guidance, and confidence. As such, I’m proud to share with you the finished article, Diagnosis & Treatment of The Failing Wound Care Center: 2 Underappreciated Considerations. Free print copies of the entire April TWC magazine will be distributed at SAWC Spring later this month, too (usually near the entrance to the exhibition hall). Organizational and Management Wound Care Center Challenges I urge anyone with an interest in this topic to check out the full article and share it with colleagues who might find it of value. Following is a quick summary of the issues covered. Today, there are more resources available than ever for getting a struggling (or new) wound care center on the right track. These include medical and product training, clinical documentation courses, mobile assessment platforms, specialty electronic health records (EHRs), and revenue cycle management and supply chain consultants, to name just a few. In fact, when hospitals and wound centers partner with a wound care management company, the goal is often to pull together several of those “tools” together into a single package. But I had yet to come across a fair (unbiased), third party look at the “big picture” options available. As such, the article focuses on two considerations: Organizational: What is the reporting structure (if any) of the wound care center? Is it a good fit for the size, needs, and challenges / aspirations of the team? How can the right balance be struck so that wound care services receive enough attention and resources, yet don’t suffer from micromanagement or apathy? The article weighs the relative advantages and drawbacks of the following structures: Reporting to hospital C-Suite Reporting to hospital VP/director-level Independent/owner reporting structure Management: Although there have recently emerged an increasing number of flavors of wound care management, for the sake of this discussion, we divided them into three categories: Full service outsourced Flexible outsourced Insourced If anyone tells you that one form is superior to the other in all cases and for all wound centers, they’re either not being genuine or they simply do not have a full command of the wound care services space. Although a deep dive into wound care management approaches goes way beyond what can be communicated in a single article, the goal is to expand the reader’s horizons when considering options. Are you facing similar challenges? Executives and investors facing wound care services challenges such as those mentioned in the article are always encouraged to reach out. We have worked on both sides of the equation, and our interest is to help clients choose the best path forward for their current situation–whatever shape that may take. If you’re involved with: A struggling or new wound care center, A program seeking to deliver at a higher level, or Discovery or due diligence on a potential wound care services investment Get in touch or seek us out at one of the upcoming major industry conferences.

Do you manage, invest in, or work with a challenged wound care program? This is for you… Read Post »