Poland bucks the EU growth trend – but the healthcare market remains highly fragmented

London, UK, 29 July 2011 — Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.However, in an unusually bright spot the Polish parliament has today approved the public Health Fund’s budget for 2012 – budgeting for a 7.5% increase over 2011 to zł 61 billion (€15 billion).Within this is an expected 3.0% reduction in drug reimbursement, similar to measures taken by other countries and illustrating a continued reigning in on healthcare supply costs across the EU bloc.

Poland is similar to the other EU countries in one other aspect – in the immensely fragmented nature of its healthcare system.The country’s 600 hospitals are largely stand-alone entities with limited consolidation today.Although some commentators expect a significant privatisation wave in 2011-13, we see a trend towards further decentralisation as public hospitals continue to be remodelled as independent, limited liability companies.

This fragmentation increases the need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for all actors in the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is helping healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins.

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About Proceur Ltd

Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit www.proceur.com.

For further information please contact:

Proceur Ltd

Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.