Caring for the Caregivers
No industry has been more essential in the last six months than
healthcare, a category that includes hospitals, medical practices,
pharmaceuticals, and other life-sciences companies.
While essential, middle market healthcare businesses have been
very negatively affected by the pandemic. Revenue fell more sharply
for retailers and wholesalers, unsurprisingly due to lockdowns; but
healthcare came in next worst and its drop was steeper than retail’s.
For healthcare, the past year revenue growth rate plummeted 11.5
points, from 7.9% in December to -3.6%. (Retail fell 10.6 points.) The
industry forecasts growth of 1.4% over the next 12 months, below the
overall middle market’s 2.0% prediction.
Above and beyond the revenue challenges, healthcare companies face
daunting management and strategic issues. By a substantial margin,
healthcare executives are most likely to predict needing to make
substantial and long-lasting changes in how they operate and run their
businesses for the safety of employees and customers. And pretty
much across the board, healthcare executives are most likely to say
that the next six months will bring problems like delayed investments,
staff cuts, general disruption, supply shortages, cash crunches, and
the need to impose and endure significant restructuring.
