Interviewer: Mahmoud Mansi

HR Revolution Middle East: As the Founder of Vmarsh Healthcare, how does providing healthcare consulting services impact the patient and promote overall wellness?

Sandeep Sharma: This is very similar to how the “back stage” efficiency and excellence affects the quality of the play out front in a theatre!

As an example, having a good operational excellence strategy (a solution we provide), helps improving outputs, efficiency, thereby improving the experience a patient has. Similarly, one of the “Talks of town” for the Healthcare Industry is “Patient experience” with now people at C-suite levels being appointed just to fix/monitor loose ends which affect the patient experience. Such a role requires the help of external industry experts who with a holistic view can bring-in some best practices from a different entities, from a different region, sometimes even a different industry that can be implemented by a hospital/healthcare setting. This in fact is one of the things we at Vmarsh are currently the busiest with. i.e., A Patient experience optimisation strategy.

HR Revolution Middle East: Which healthcare entities are your clients? And why would they require help from an external consulting entity instead of trying to do it on their own?

Sandeep Sharma: We are all about connected needs of anyone in the Healthcare Ecosystem with the right resources, answers and solutions. So, it spans from Regulators (Govt.), Providers (Hospitals/Clinics), Pharmaceuticals, MedTech and Healthcare Academics (Universities, Medical colleges).

Consulting can divulge from both “must have/must fix” areas to “Good to have/good to address” areas. It is nothing but a set of extra minds and hands enabling improvement or providing solutions to the all the from the front line to the c-suite in a Healthcare entity.

Example – profitability achieved through optimal utilisation of resources. Another example would be Medical Tourism and Franchise expansion; The various strategic models we create for healthcare entities can help them enhance the business footfall regions, expand on a whole new revenue stream far beyond that of their physical presence, right out to countries/places that have a Healthcare provision shortage that can be fulfilled by services of this hospital even if its present across borders, seas and lands.

HR Revolution Middle East: What are the new trends in healthcare?

Sandeep Sharma: Healthcare despite being a close knit global industry has become very regional theory emerging several regional trends, more so post pandemic. To name a few:

1. The emergence of “Franchise Expansion and Brand leasing” – This is a step-up from Benchmarking practices whereby a hospital from one region would benchmark itself with a similarly sized hospital from a different region to acquire new leanings. This is now advancing to a next level and is now at the point where, tier 1 hospitals from the world are putting their name up on upcoming/newly build greenfield institutes and investing its brand equity. This is turning out to be quite symbiotic as the tier 1 hospital enjoys a brand recall in a new region while the new hospital uses this as a bridge to acquire best practices, quickly build reputation in a cut throat competitive market and create a white space for itself.

• The shift towards “Preventive care and Wellness” from the “emergent and cure-based-care” – With technology and the internet providing the general population with a push of a button information on health and wellness, today’s world is emerging to be more aware and curious as to learn about one’s own health quality and thereby invest time and money to improve &/or sustain it. And healthcare providers enjoy this too, as with this it generates opportunity for “cash patients” cutting he hassle of dealing with payers and denials; merely because insurances typically cover “necessary care” spanning across primary, secondary and tertiary care than preventive care/wellness services.

• “Safety” is the new brand equity over “price” – The pandemic indeed was catastrophic; however, it did bring a lot of valuable learnings and did do some good to the world. And one such thing is it made the world a more hygienic place…Did any of us think of sanitising/washing our hands and generally be so cautious about the environment around us before the pandemic? Think about it… This tells us that these days people more and more care about their “safety” and “well-being”… Today if you talk to anyone  about visiting a hospital, the first question they ask you is “Is it safe?”; with that said, people trust and prefer hospital they feel comfortable about “hygiene-wise” else they resort more to telemedicine or online consultations, unless very necessary to visit in-person. This tells us in today’s time the “secret sauce” for any hospital’s success in increasing patient footfall is its emphasis on “safety” and thereby having campaigns/communications with patients/consumers about the safety measure the hospital has taken to be recognised that their hospital a “safe” environment to be in.

More About Sandeep Sharma

Sandeep Sharma is the Executive Director & Global Lead at Vmarsh Healthcare, which is a consulting firm focused on: Healthcare Strategy, Quality/Performance Improvement & Transaction Advisory Services. Vmarsh Healthcare operates with offices across Dubai, Mumbai, Chicago, Kuala Lumpur & Cairo. He has led Multiple Advisory Consulting, Operational/Clinical & Transformation Strategy projects, as well as Business expansion leadership roles.

In addition, Sandeep is the Chairman of the Strategy Committee for the European Fertility Society. Also, Advisory Board Member for the Standards committee for Global Healthcare Accreditation, United states. 

Sandeep comes with Techno-commercial experience across Healthcare, Biopharmaceuticals & Life-sciences industry focused on Business Initiation & Feasibility studies, Brand Management, Customer Development /Retention Strategies, New Market Entry, Strategy effectiveness, Medical Tourism Strategy, Market Research & Business development across geographical regions including Europe, Middle East/Africa & APAC. 

He is an MBA in marketing from Sydney, Australia & Biotechnology Graduate from India. Lived & educated across UK, India, Singapore, Australia & now UAE.

More details on LinkedIn profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandeep-sharma-247b0532