Diagnostics play a vital role in spotting health problems and informing medical interventions. However, despite rising demand in most of the world’s largest healthcare economies, many diagnostics companies struggle against commoditization as governments face increasing pressure to move from volume to value-based contracting and to encourage more preventive, healthy behaviors of the population. These very same pressures also present opportunities as diagnostics companies can be the central link between healthcare products and services.

As health systems move from treatment to prevention, and from volume to value, diagnostics can accelerate this shift.

In the near term, consolidation is the number one approach. Some of the key strategies to surviving the value game include:

1. Consolidation: opening the door to scale economies and synergies
2. Targeting new contracts and public sector outsourcing to improve performance and raise volumes
3. Diversification: creating a one-stop imaging and laboratories service, specializing and developing new income streams
4. Rethinking communications and customer experience
5. Reducing headcount

 

Diagnostic companies also recognize that to win in this value game, they have to shift perception of their role away from a white-label, third-party supplier subsector, to that of a premium brand that is an innovative contributor to better healthcare. Some of the key strategies to winning in the value game are:

1. Partner with the wider health system - including the public sector to ease the strain on public health budgets
2. Evolve healthcare models to help reduce hospital costs by moving care into the community.
3. Innovate and provide new solutions by creating new and more valuable forms of testing
4. Make more of data to demonstrate diagnostics' value
5.  Engage differently with regulators by actively participating in health reforms.