To catch the growth in the sector, the independent hospital group has put in place the commercial relationships and operational infrastructure to scale its PMI volumes.
Practice Plus Group has outlined plans to increase its private medical insurance (PMI) business.
The latest figures from non-profit organisation the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) in March show there was a 1% year-on-year rise in the number of reported admissions at the UK’s private hospitals in the third quarter last year. Private medical insurance remained the preferred payment method, and the number of admissions funded this way increased by 1% and was at a record level for the period.
The independent hospital group, acquired last year by Narayana Health, has spent the past six months putting in place the commercial relationships and operational infrastructure required to scale its insured patient volumes across its hospital network.
Central to the strategy has been the identification of multiple digital access points to ensure ease of access to care for both patients and insured partners. The objective is to evidence Practice Plus Group as a credible, efficient and nationally accessible provider that consistently delivers quality and value.
“Practice Plus Group is not new to private healthcare. Our USP is fully transparent package pricing with no shortfalls,” said Claire O’Neill, the group’s partnerships director.
“Insurers do not need to manage separate consultant charges or complex billing, and patients are never exposed to unexpected payment gaps. We are the only large provider in the market offering this model,” she added.
Virtuous circle
O’Neill heads the group’s PMI business. She joined Practice Plus Group as partnerships director last year from Circle Health Group, where she was commercial relations manager.
She has established a dedicated insured partnerships function, strengthened working arrangements with major insurers and undertaken a comprehensive review of the group’s hospitals to assess their readiness for increased PMI activity.
“Since joining the company, my focus has been on strengthening our insurer partnerships and demonstrating that we deliver high-quality care reliably and at scale. We already have a strong private healthcare offering, and we’re now building upon that to strengthen our insured offering in a structured, sustainable way,” she said.
Alongside commercial engagement, she has appointed two partnerships relationship managers. Neil Brown joins the team, leading enhancements to billing and coding processes, while Nathan Lang completes the PMI commercial team with a focus on embedding consistent insurer-facing processes and mutually beneficial contracts across sites.
Practice Plus Group is already included within selected insurer-managed networks in areas such as hip and knee surgery, ophthalmology and endoscopy, where providers must meet defined clinical and performance standards in return for referral volumes.
Group chief executive Ross Dowsett told Healthcare Today last year: “Over the past five to seven years, we’ve worked hard to enhance our staff offering. Part of the reason we’ve been able to do that is because we’ve diversified into new markets. For us, it’s a virtuous circle: the additional income from private work allows us to reinvest in our people and in improving patient care.”
