‘Healthcare is a matter of quantitative and qualitative results. But in our case, health outcomes are more important than economic ones, and that means putting patients at the centre of our management model’, said Dr Juan Abarca Cidón, president of HM Hospitales, at the most recent edition of ‘Desayunos Esade’, organised by Esade Alumni in collaboration with CriteriaCaixa. During his talk, he explained that the group’s management model owes its success to networking and the healthcare vocation of the professionals who are part of it. ‘It is a virtuous circle’, he said, ‘in which everything is a means to patient care.’

‘One of our main aims is to attract talented professionals, who are the ones in direct contact with our patients’, added Dr Abarca Cidón, speaking about the importance of the staff at the group’s centres and praising their motivation to serve. He further stressed that the group’s centres do not outsource functions or departments, noting, ‘We want all our employees to share the same patient-oriented culture.’ ‘Our true vocation is care,’ he added, ‘and you do not necessarily have to be a healthcare professional to have it.’

Networking and a vocation for care

According to Dr Abarca Cidón, the HM Hospitales management model is based on three pillars, ‘care, teaching and research’. He highlighted the importance of integrating specialities to ensure patient volume and create care synergies no matter where the patients are. ‘With this system, we have paved the way to having the best possible outcomes, guaranteeing a return on investment and successfully conducting research projects’, he said. Furthermore, ‘innovation is in our DNA, so we have been pioneers in many areas’, he continued, referring to the group’s work model and network growth system, but also the fact that it was the first private healthcare group to earn ISO certification or obtain university hospital accreditation after several decades in which none was granted.

Finally, Dr Abarca Cidón advocated networking beyond the field of private healthcare, calling for the integration of private and public healthcare to guarantee excellence in patient care. ‘It is not about competing. On the contrary, we have to promote data integration so that patients can move seamlessly between the two systems.’

The president of HM Hospitales was accompanied by Mario Lara, director of Esade Madrid, and Juan M. Hernández Puértolas, director of communications for the ”la Caixa” Foundation Group.