Rusckowski illustrated this point, highlighting that hospitalization poses a tremendous financial burden to the healthcare systems of the future. As such, industry leaders need to focus much more on prevention, screening and early diagnosis. He also addressed the issue of health insurance coverage, which is either not available or not affordable for the majority of the population. Rusckowski referenced how collaborative initiatives like the collective micro-financing of healthcare in countries like the Philippines are helping to address this issue.
Examples of how Philips has applied an innovative approach to develop solutions and drive collaboration among ASEAN constituents from the government, healthcare and insurance sectors include:
The Vamed preferred partnership by which Philips is supporting the modernization of Vietnamese hospitals by supplying equipment to hospitals across the country, under the Ministry of Defense and to the Vietnam Heart Institute.
The Easy Web (E-Web) Healthcare System developed in cooperation with the Philippines Heart Center, Manila, to provide rural populations in the
Philippines with access to quality healthcare through a remote patient management solution that addresses some of the most critical stages of the
healthcare cycle: early detection and aftercare.
Philips has supplied the first Ambient Experience MR Suite to the Malaysian Subang Jaya Medical Centre, the first hospital in the ASEAN region to employ this technology. The Philips Ambient Experience Suite offers patients a calm, reassuring atmosphere so that patients feel more comfortable, minimizing delays due to patient fears and concerns and increasing efficiencies in patient care. Philips' collaboration with the National Health Centre in Singapore on cardiac laboratory imaging is helping to advance clinical validation of new innovative technologies and training on equipment for cardiologists from around the region. As part of a partnership with Phyathai Hospitals in Thailand, Philips is not only supplying equipment and technology, but also jointly developing a training centre.
Through promoting dialogue amongst public and private sector leaders, the BusinessWeek "ASEAN symposium on Access to Healthcare" aims to identify potential solutions to removing barriers to universal quality healthcare. The first symposium was held in Kuala Lumpur in September 2007.
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