Patient flows have more than doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year. This applies both to diagnostics patients (MRI and PET/CT) and to clinical and surgical treatments. The majority of patients are contract patients from the Swedish healthcare regions, but patients also come via insurance companies or seek care privately. Patient growth can mainly be explained by new agreements with more healthcare regions, including for implementing robotassisted surgery (RALP) for treating prostate cancer patients.

SIMPLER PROCUREMENT MEANS MORE PEOPLE RECEIVE CARE
To increase capacity, manage the impact of the pandemic and reduce healthcare waiting lists, the Swedish Government decided to simplify the regions’ direct procurement of private healthcare providers. Regions that procured services from Perituskliniken during the year are Region Skåne, Region Östergötland, Region Kalmar and Region Västernorrland. CEO Åsa Dahm explains:

“During the pandemic, many patients refrained from seeking healthcare, creating an even greater challenge for public healthcare services. New rules regarding direct procurement of private hospitals make it easier for more patients to receive both diagnosis and treatment. We wish this process could go even faster, and we’re doing what we can in this regard through political advocacy. By being active in the debate, we can highlight the need for private cancer care and prostate cancer screening.”

WIN-WIN PARTNERSHIPS
Perituskliniken still has the capacity to admit more patients. For this reason they have approached Region Skåne, aiming to continue to ease the future public healthcare burden regarding cancer care in the field of urology. The clinic also collaborates with other private healthcare providers to make use of its full capacity. In 2022 an agreement was signed with Evidia, which offers radiology and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to Region Skåne. While Evidia waits for new premises, its patients attend Perituskliniken for examinations. This allows the clinic to exchange expertise and study high patient flows at close quarters. “Given the nature of the Swedish healthcare system, partnerships with private healthcare providers can help improve public healthcare,” says Åsa Dahm. “It’s a win-win situation.”

HIGH QUALITY CARE AND PATIENT SATISFACTION
Perituskliniken is a specialist hospital offering the full range of care under one roof. It provides world-class expertise and technology to handle urology diagnostics and surgery. Running a hospital requires extensive knowledge to meet clinical and regulatory requirements. In ongoing public quality reporting, Perituskliniken can monitor whether they are delivering high quality in relation to other hospitals. The clinic’s patients are quite simply satisfied. There is currently no mandatory requirement for work on quality, neither for day-to-day operations nor in the procurement process. However, the clinic has initiated structured and strategic efforts to create a quality and environmental management system that ensures the quality of care will continue to improve in 2023. Perituskliniken complies with all regulatory requirements regarding, for example, occupational health and safety and non-conformance reporting, receiving its ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 certification at the end of 2022.

ROOTED IN THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY
Perituskliniken is located in the midst of Skåne’s research mecca Medicon Village, where most of the clinic’s neighbors are research companies. In 2022 research efforts were initiated, with Perituskliniken now discussing and formulating possible suitable projects together with potential research partners.

“It’s clearly an advantage to be located in Medicon Village,” says Åsa Dahm. “It offers the conditions for collaboration and exchange of expertise. It’s easy for us to just run over to another company and have a face-to-face meeting.”

Specialists in urology are in short supply, not just in Sweden. Training is needed to produce more of them, and attracting them also requires a high flow of patients and a clear research base. In 2022 Perituskliniken initiated a reference assignment with a medical technology provider in the field of transperineal fusion biopsies. This means that the clinic’s specialists will train international doctors in diagnostics in Lund and give lectures in the doctors’ respective home countries.

“2022 has been an important and eventful year for us,” says Åsa Dahm. “As I see it, we’re just at the beginning of a very long journey, and we have a great deal left to do before we can be satisfied.”