Hospitals

New management methods in line with an unprecedented context

The management of a hospital has never looked so much like a company. Whether it concerns medical equipment, recruitment and retention of qualified staff, research, implementation of new processes or other items of expenditure, every investment must be part of a rigorous financial strategy, particularly in the light of the competitive context or the increasing budgetary pressure exerted by politics.

Hospital managers are confronted with these requirements and must therefore make sure that no savings are overlooked. In a sector where the highest quality standards are constantly ensured, budget optimisation consists of applying tax relief measures or obtaining the subsidies for which they are eligible.

The race to save, a government priority

February 2019 – a bill is adopted to modernise the national hospital landscape by including every general and university hospital in Belgium in the clinical networks from 1 January 2020. This will create 25 networks; 13 in Flanders, 4 in Brussels and 8 in Wallonia.

Although the measure is, of course, intended to improve cooperation between hospitals, rationalisation is one of the key words, justified in particular by the direct link between the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the most complex equipment and the intensity of its use. Savings can therefore be made by providing state-of-the-art care only in certain networks, such as cardiac or oncology surgery (less complex care will of course continue to be covered regardless of the hospital).

A permanent need for research and innovation

Such a reorganisation is also accompanied by new, optimised processes, often in parallel with digitisation projects (AI, VR/AR, IoT, big data). Hospitals, for example, conduct research and collaborate with universities. Once optimised and secured, these projects can become a financial resource.

It is therefore a question of finding new resources to finance long-term R&D programmes and activities, such as clinical research, connected drug solutions, statistics and analyses, optimisation of the patient journey or cooperation with universities.

Ayming’s expertise at the service of the modern hospital world and its challenges

One of the first possibilities to be explored is the partial exemption from payment of withholding tax on professional income for researchers. Thus, employers can withhold up to 80% of the amount due under certain conditions: the employee must be on the payroll, hold a scientific diploma, carry out R&D activities registered on the Belspo portal, and have a register of the time spent on these activities.

This exemption is not the only way to save money; scientific collaborations with universities, for example, are also appreciated.

In practice, however, it can be observed that the exercise of these rights often proves to be time-consuming and that there is a rapid lack of expertise, both in terms of the valuation of R&D activities for the competent authorities and in terms of the various steps to be taken.

However, it is crucial to address this issue, which can prove to be a considerable challenge, as the law allows claims made up to five years ago to be submitted.

Ayming’s expertise lies precisely in these challenges; we have developed a flawless expertise and methodology that ensures that a hospital institution can take advantage of every opportunity without being burdened with the inevitable administrative burden, without the least impact in terms of overburdening hospital staff or quality of care provided, and in a perfectly secure manner in the event of a tax audit.

A practical and holistic approach

Ayming draws on years of experience to guide and support you on these three fronts.

During expert to expert discussions, our teams identify your financial flows by mapping out your R&D income and expenditure, in order to determine your positioning in relation to industry standards.

Our specialists then carry out a thorough scientific audit of your tax and administrative practices and ensure that every opportunity is taken, taking into account the most recent legislation.

Finally, our consultants take care of the allocation of the various financing measures by taking care of the compilation of the file for you and its registration and follow-up with the competent authorities.

More information

Click on the links below to find out more about the various possibilities that apply to your sector and for which we put our expertise at your disposal:

Downloads

Download our brochure for more information about our approach to the ICT and digital sector and a practical example of optimisation for one of our clients.

Hospital brochure in Dutch Hospitals brochure in French

You can also benefit from our whitepapers, which give you an overview of the current state of innovation and R&D, both nationally and internationally.

Contact

Please contact us for more information or for a personal meeting in which our experts explain the possibilities of optimization for your organization.