LSHC Horizons Brochure 2024 - Flipbook - Page 59
Hogan Lovells | 2024 Life Sciences and Health Care Horizons | Hospitals and Health Care Providers
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The hospital as a global institution
Hospitals are global enterprises. Like most
industries in the 21st century, hospitals view
“internationalization” as a fundamental
business strategy.
At one time, hospital “internationalization”
meant successful foreign patient recruitment,
and even that was something of a luxury.
Today, foreign patients are only one facet
of a hospital’s global aspiration.
Global advisory and consulting projects:
As foreign governments and companies
make deep investments in health systems
infrastructure, hospitals are tapped to provide
advisory services and technical support to arrayed
projects abroad. Scopes of work range from how
to design an emergency room to assessment of
care models and clinical workflows. Some such
projects also involve branding of foreign facilities
and medical centers.
Global telemedicine: Modern technology
has forever changed the delivery model.
Remote second opinions, virtual services,
and hospital-to-hospital telemedicine
collaborations are flourishing across
sovereign borders.
Global patient services: Revenue is
mounting from foreign patients, particularly
wealthy individuals who seek to travel for
specialist “western” clinical services. Hospitals
increasingly engage foreign employees,
independent contractors, and marketing firms
to socialize their in-patient specialties and liaise
with current and prospective patients abroad.
William F. Ferreira
Partner
Washington, D.C.
Global data initiatives: Multi-country
transactions are underway to consolidate and
monetize the rich repositories of patient data
across academia, industry, and governments,
holding great promise for the future of
digital health.
Global capacity building and
humanitarian projects: Hospitals are
embedded in the United Nations’ sustainable
development goal to improve health outcomes
in low and middle income countries. With U.S.
government and related funding, providers
are planting a flag in the Global South to drive
health system strengthening.
Global research: Tracking foreign regulatory
regimes – across privacy, tax, pharmaceuticals,
devices, and more – is a full time affair
for clinical trial professionals. On the flip
side, concerns about inappropriate foreign
influence, especially at U.S. hospitals, has
ignited investigations into research compliance
structures and national security.
Global clinical services: Physicians are
traveling abroad daily for stints as “visiting
physicians” at foreign institutions, or to
backfill staffing at foreign locations. Often
these programs stem from revenue-generating
cooperations between hospitals and foreign
Ministries of Health.
Lauren Colantonio
Associate
Washington, D.C.
At a time when many hospital budgets are
under pressure, the zeal for international
activity has not abated. The diversity and
variety of transnational initiatives give rise to
numerous and complex legal issues. And laws
of multiple jurisdictions factor in the analysis.
Though the issues are many and outcomes
are not perfect, a global footprint is a defining
feature of the modern health care system.
