2019 Healthcare market insights in Latin and North Americas

Market Synopsis - Latin Americas

Overview of market forces
According to a report by Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), the three major forces reshaping the Latina American healthcare market are:

• Ageing population
• Obesity epidemic
• Lack of efficiency

The report by AMI highlights that these fprces will ultimately have an effect on household structure and dependency ratios, longer wait times, lower quality of care, migration to private care, growth of private insurance, provider consolidation (vertical integration, conglomerates), rise in value-based-care, and financial strain on public systems.

Healthcare coverage


According to a report by IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, over the past quarter-century, Latin America has made great strides in healthcare coverage.

Sustainable healthcare
Strategies to achieve sustainable healthcare systems include growing GDP and improving allocative efficiency, both of which can be explored to address challenges in Latin America, the report continues.

Efforts towards healthcare sustainability in Latin America:

  • Over the past quarter-century, life expectancy and access to pharmaceuticals and healthcare have improved in Latin America
  • Latin American countries have aimed to achieve sustainable healthcare and have made progress towards this goal
  • Nearly universal coverage has been achieved in many countries, but expanded healthcare use and costs brings challenges of funding and fostering efficiency
  • Governments have made efforts to manage the resultant rise in healthcare costs and attain financial sustainability, but some remain behind the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) average in health expenditure as a percentage of GDP.

    (Source: IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science)

Top 5 trends for Latin American healthcare market

According to Global Health Intelligence (GHI) data, some of the key trends changing the healthcare markets in Latin America are technological innovations, rapid adoption of electronic medical records and telemedicine. Hospitals constantly need to stay in front of these trends, and device and equipment manufacturers need to be ready to provide what hospitals need, when they need it.

1. Brazil is expected to bounce back from meagre economic growth of 0.7% in 2017 with a surge in medical equipment and device sales. One major reason for this projection is due to increasing import levels.

2. Mexico is set to make its mark. Like Brazil, Mexico has experienced volatility in recent years when it comes to both overall economic and healthcare sector growth. However, in October 2017 the IMF forecasted GDP growth to be 1.9% for Mexico in 2018.

3. Smaller markets are set to surge. The big players of Brazil and Mexico aren’t the only countries that GHI expected good fortune from in 2018. Smaller markets like Chile, Peru, Guatemala and Costa Rica should become increasingly important players in the medical equipment markets, as well.

4. One of the major trends that GHI projected for 2018 and beyond is a growing customer base for private medical services. Latin America’s health insurance companies have the most rapid level of growth in the world, with 30% growth, each year, projected through 2025, as per McKinsey and Company.

5. With healthcare budgets remaining tight in Latin America in 2018 and beyond, hospitals will continue to be attracted to lower-priced alternatives.

(Source: Global Health Intelligence (GHI)