This is leading, he noted, to changes in the nature of providers. They are consolidating and industrializing to manage the health of patients rather than treating their diseases.

These new entities will need a partner with a strong portfolio and the ability to elevate services, optimize their processes and solve their systemwide challenges, he suggested.

“Instead of optimizing the single world of a department, they are breaking down their silos,” he stated. “They build comprehensive care centers, they build cardio vascular towers, they certify their stroke units.”

“It requires a partner with a broad portfolio across departments, and with the ability to think beyond and help them,” Montag noted. “We see more and more providers switching from one single transaction to long-term arrangements, which help them remain state-of-the-art across multi-site institutions in the long run.”

Siemens has responded to the changes in health care, of course, by moving to spin off Healthineers in some fashion, to make it more focused and nimble in the fluid landscape of the industry.

That said, recent reports indicate that the exact method of achieving independence for the $15 billion health care business is not yet certain.

“We have been preparing all the decisive steps and we are following three very interesting alternatives,” Ralf Thomas, chief financial officer, noted recently.

The most apparent options would include a regular initial public offering, a spinoff, or a reverse initial public offering involving a merger with an already-listed company.

The exact nature of the structure of the deal had never been discussed by the industrial giant – although it had suggested that it would keep control.

Whatever the nature of the final deal, it would serve the ongoing Siemens strategy of changing the company from a conglomerate to more of a holding company, according to Bloomberg.

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