What we do?

Our goal is to provide our clients, whether private or public, with the right tools to achieve their goals faster and more efficiently. We offer our experience in the fields of healthcare system reforms, provider networks, health technology benchmarks and assessments, hospital management, procurement, financing and contracting, and other areas of health sector modernization.

Our firm has 20 years of combined experience in healthcare. In the last 5 years, our consultants participated in all major healthcare reforms in Slovakia, whether it was the optimisation of inpatient and outpatient provider network, the establishment of international price benchmarking, set up of long-term care system, or the implementation of new payment mechanisms (DRG, risk-adjustment) – we know it all and done it all…

Price maps and benchmarking

We are collecting and cataloguing prices of various medical devices from several EU countries and building powerful price maps and databases, which in the past achieved tremendous possibilities for savings. For our clients, we also provide support by defining the specs and prices during the procurement process.

Risk-adjustment models and payment mechanisms

Risk-redistribution and effective payment mechanisms are the backbone of every successful healthcare system. Our consultants have deep knowledge of DRG and other payment mechanisms (P4S, P4P, P4O) models, including their implementation. We have also experience implementing and recalculating new variables into the risk-redistribution mechanisms, successfully achieving predictive power over 20%.

System and geographical network optimalization

We have supervised several network optimisation projects. Our team has extensive knowledge of healthcare processes and functions, which is a key for achieving higher quality and better access to healthcare. Provision of healthcare, if based on supply/demand planning and spatial/geographical conditions leads to great increases in effectiveness in terms of value for money or source allocation.

Market access schemes

Value based healthcare is the new sexy in healthcare systems. Implementing new innovations in the sector leads to strong effects on a patient’s well-being as well as on the healthcare spending (whether in positive, or negative way). Our consultants have experience with various analytical and statistical HTA models and have years of experience with categorization processes of drugs and special medical material.

Quote

We are always looking for higher value and effectivenessin healthcare. With our skillset, we are able to identify the weak spots in most healthcare systems and come up with tailored solutions.

Who we are

Our history began in 2016 at the Ministry of health of the Slovak republic, where we became members (later heads) of the Institute of health policy. During the time, we were able to successfully prepare and implement several projects. We created a public database of medical devices prices, that has led to huge savings during procurement processes. We also implemented several improvements to the redistribution mechanism in Slovakia, largely increasing the predictive power of the model. One of the greatest projects at the Institute was the optimalisation of inpatient and outpatient network. Internationally we were also members of several healthcare expert groups of international institutions, especially at the European Committee (SPC, HSPA) and OECD (Health Committee).

In 2020 we have decided that we have to follow our personal motto “Why join the navy, when you can be a pirate?” – it was time to move on and we decided to offer our services internationally and also to private clients. Although different clients, our objectives haven’t changed. We are always looking for higher value and effectiveness in the healthcare sector. With our skillset, we are able to identify the weak spots in most healthcare systems and come up with tailored solutions.

Martin Smatana

Martin Smatana

Consultant & Partner

Martin studied at Oxford and Imperial College in London, where he graduated in health management. He worked in England as an analyst for NHS. He inspected hospitals in the Central Bohemian Region for more than a year. From 2016 to 2020, he headed the Institute of Health Policy. In addition, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of VšZP, and the chairman of the categorization commission of specialized medical material at the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic. Martin also cooperates with the Association for the Protection of Patients’ Rights and is an advisor to the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family. Martin is the author of several publications and is a member of the European Commission’s social protection committee.

Michal Štofko

Michal Štofko

Consultant & Partner

Michal studied at the WU Wien in Vienna and at the University of Economics in Bratislava, where he also obtained a PhD in Economic impact studies. He started his work at Sanigest International, where he dealt with payment mechanisms and provider network schemes. Later he worked in several medical institutions and companies (General Health Insurance Company, Novartis Pharmaceutical Company and others). From 2016 to 2020, he worked as the Director of Strategy at the Institute of Health Policy. In addition, he was the chairman of the supervisory board of the Faculty Hospital in Nové Zámky and the vice-chairman of the categorization commission of specialized medical material at the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic. Michal was also a member of the health committee at the OECD. He currently lectures for the Health Management Academy, collaborates with several health associations and is an advisor at the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family.