The shares of Advanced Health were listed on the AltX counter of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 25 April 2014, following share issues which included a public offer of 81,3 million shares at R1 per share. The public offer was heavily oversubscribed, which increased the number of issued shares to 208,8 million. The listing raised funds with which to mainly expand the company’s facilities base in South Africa. More information in Our Business.
Business model
The Advanced business model acknowledges the professional expertise required to plan, establish and successfully manage day-surgery facilities. Day hospitals are developed through individual operating companies, in partnership with participating medical practitioners and in conjunction with property development companies. The medical practitioners provide the expertise to ensure that medical quality, technology and care are of the highest standards.
The medical practitioners provide the expertise to ensure that medical quality, technology and care are of the highest standards. Advanced Health adds value by concentrating on business and staff management and increased efficiencies through central services such as information technology and accounting services. Day hospitals are developed by property developers, with Advanced securing long-term tenure through lease and first-refusal purchasing agreements.
Day hospital utilisation
Day hospitals offer patients, surgeons and medical schemes a cost-effective alternative to surgery performed in conventional general hospitals. More information in Day Hospital Advantages. South Africa lags behind comparable countries as far as day-clinic utilisation is concerned. This is a result of various factors, the most significant being the funding structure of medical schemes, which traditionally favoured hospitals.
However, the continued disproportionate increase in the cost of private medical care has prompted the Competition Commission to investigate the funding structures. Advanced management is convinced that the findings of the commission will favour day hospital surgery. Discovery Health has already introduced incentives to promote the use of day hospitals where possible and other large schemes are following suit. An increase in day-hospital beds will not replace the need for beds in acute hospitals, as a result of the growth in the privately insured market, which is accelerating as medical schemes introduce lower-cost options to increase its customer base. Day hospitals are also well placed to service public-private partnerships, now and when the envisaged South African national health insurance plan is introduced.
