To fill this gap, Global Health Intelligence (GHI) decided to delve into its database (which covers 86% of all hospitals in Latin America and now includes Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay) to analyze which hospitals have the highest equipment counts in 4 specific categories:

• Patient care (number of beds)
• Diagnostic imaging equipment
• Cardiovascular equipment
• Maternity unit equipment

These four categories are critical pillars when evaluating patient care. The number of beds within an institution is often an indicator of the size of the hospital and may be correlated to the level of care. Diagnostic imaging equipment is essential to properly diagnose any number of life-threatening and chronic conditions. Cardiovascular equipment is just as important given the prevalence of heart disease in Latin America. A majority of births take place in hospitals and birthing is one of the main activities of most hospitals, which denotes significant importance to maternity units and infant care. While additional categories could have been included, GHI decided to focus on these 4 areas of care in order make the ranking more manageable.

Why Multiple Categories and Countries?

Rankings are often all-encompassing with no specific focus, such as the “The 50 best hospitals.” Given the complexities of healthcare systems in place and the context in which they operate, GHI opted to acknowledge these characteristics by creating a ranking per leading category. This also enables smaller yet more specialized hospitals to form part of the ranking.

GHI applied the same plurality by setting up the rankings per country in order to reflect local market dynamics accurately. For example, Brazil has over 200 million people and over 7,000 hospitals. It would be an unjust comparison to include Brazilian hospitals alongside those of Peru, for instance, a market that’s 10 times smaller.

Rankings for the Best Equipped Hospitals

The best-equipped hospitals in Argentina
The best-equipped hospitals in Brazil
The best-equipped hospitals in Chile
The best-equipped hospitals in Colombia
The best-equipped hospitals in Dominican Republic
The best-equipped hospitals in Mexico
The best-equipped hospitals in Peru
The best-equipped hospitals in Puerto Rico

Dive Deeper

This GHI ranking will give you an initial sense of which Latin American hospitals are best-equipped. But that’s just a surface view. It takes a deeper dive into the data to understand which market segments have the best potential to drive your revenues.

You can get this deep dive by subscribing to our database , which quickly lets you use data visualization tools to see which hospitals have the biggest needs and what those needs are. Parsing that is what will uncover opportunities for your sales team and allow you to grow your revenues in different markets. Check out this video to understand how the database can help drive new and existing revenue streams. Then contact GHI directly for an even deeper sense of how our database can be the perfect tool for your sales team.

According to official data around 12,000 people from Venezuela have entered the country since 2014. Hospitals in Roraima indicate that majority of the patients are Venezuelans. This is burdening the medical supplies of the region leading to critically low stock. According to Brazilian health professionals, Venezuelans usually arrive at hospitals in severe conditions requiring immediate medical attention.

Increase in incidence of diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria has been observed. The hospitalization rate of Brazilians in the general hospital is 7% while that of Venezuelans reaches to 20%. Other countries in the region have also registered a significant increase in immigrants from Venezuela.

In addition, a significant increase in the number of asylum requests for Venezuelans has increased in the country reaching 2,595 in the first 11 months of 2016, against 54 in 2013. Despite the shortage of medicines and food in the Venezuela, bureaucratic obstacles hinder import of products.

It is of opinion that Brazil and other countries must press for Venezuela to accept international aid to minimize the impact of economic problems and the political crisis on the population.

The report requested the government to consider the policies for allowing better distribution of professionals in locations deprived of specialists. Two migratory waves were observed in Uruguay; one during the dictatorship and the other during the economic crisis in 2002. However, the situation seems to have reversed with very few doctors migrating to other countries in search of better working conditions.

According to the Medical Union there is zero unemployment in the sector, yet 7% and 10% of Uruguayan doctors work abroad. The majority travel to Spain (51.7%) followed by Chile (24.4%). With the reversal of situation, doctors from other nations are moving to Uruguay for work, especially from Venezuela, Cuba and Pakistan.

Brazil was no exception. The economic downturn resulted in 22% decrease in imports across all major medical devices and equipment.

Download the complete report for more information.

The rise in obesity rates make it clear that there is a need to for diet and healthy living to curb the rise of “globesity”. Efforts by governments, food producers, retailers, employers and insurance companies must to combine tackle the obesity crisis. Statistics by WHO show that obesity rates have more than doubled since 1980.

Currently, 13% of adults across the globe have been classified as obese and nearly 40% as overweight. This is a pressing issue and the numbers are expected to rise further collaborative and targeted action is not taken.

Globesity can be tackled through a holistic approach combining health incentives, taxes and education programs. One of the most effective means of reducing obesity is providing clear information about the direct correlation between nutrition, weight gain and non-communicable diseases.

IESS found that between 12 to 18% of hospital bills have undue items and between 25 to 40% of laboratory tests were not necessary. The data also highlighted that between 2002 and 2015 there was misappropriation of BRL5 billion in the public health system. While in the private healthcare, irregularities included excessive and unnecessary treatment or poor quality care, inadequate marketing of medicines and medical devices and tax evasion.

The report concluded that absence of transparent mechanisms in the healthcare system lead to such practices. The Brazilian healthcare system lacks transparency in pricing of inputs, health services and in the payment process for services. This makes it impossible to compare and control costs in the different steps that involve patient care. This is happening mainly because the model used for health care payments (fee-for-service) has loopholes.

The report suggested that to combat such practices in the industry, the payment systems need to be modernized. Hospitals should be rewarded for efficiency and best clinical outcome to the patient. They should be punished for waste and unnecessary exams, readmissions or worsening of clinical conditions caused by faulty care.