Private Consumption and Business Modeling

In the current debate on the future of the Italian national health service, worthy of attention are the changes under way in economic circuits of the health sector that are not publicly funded, and are mostly driven by individual choices and market dynamics. These include out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure incurred by households and corporates (e.g. occupational medicine), as well as healthcare costs covered by private or corporate health insurance, supplemental health insurance and mutual societies. This expenditure may be considered as 'private consumption'. Policies to contain public spending, patient customization, growing interdependencies within the health sector and with other sectors, technological innovation, as well as healthcare providers' ability to respond to new challenges, make private healthcare consumption a major trend that deserves scrutiny.
Against this background, the course has the following learning objectives:
1. A thorough understanding of private healthcare consumption and of changes underway (supply and demand), with a view to helping stakeholders respond to market drivers;
2. Honing the understanding of potential developments, particularly in terms of emerging business models and the associated business planning and modelling approaches.

The programme provides an overview of private healthcare trends, focusing on their understanding and the challenges to government action. Moreover, we will explore convergence opportunities offered by the private sector and the tools that may help unlock this potential. We will then focus on "users-consumers" and how to interpret their perceptions, cognitive maps and behaviours. The last two sessions will tackle how to build a company based on these analyses and how social goals can underpin a viable strategy in the healthcare market.