In early 2021, faced with the crisis in the healthcare sector caused by Covid-19, Vivalto Santé decided to expand its operations to other EU countries. “The shortage of caregivers and even doctors, the rapid development of the digital tools needed to make the lives of our patients and our caregivers easier, the exponential rise of telemedicine, in particular teleconsultation,… were all challenges that we needed to include in a thorough reflection into what was required to transform our model,” said Emmanuel De Geuser, Managing Director of Vivalto Santé.
Vivalto then examined around a dozen European countries, before settling on three entities – the Clinique CIC in Switzerland (July 2022), Ribera Salud in Spain (with its businesses in Czechia and Slovakia in November 2022) and Lusiadas Saude in Portugal (in December 2022). This rapprochement was motivated by the same shared values and vision for long-term development, and distinctive positioning of these businesses in their markets.
The Vivalto Santé group, which was created in 2009 by the acquisition of three Brittany-based facilities, today owns 50 hospitals and clinics throughout France. With these new acquisitions, the Vivalto Santé group now has 91 healthcare facilities in Europe, with revenues of €2.2 billion split equally between France and the rest of Europe.
“With the ‘Third Way’ and our status as a company with a mission, we have a different and attractive model that arouses the interest not only of French hospital players, but also foreign ones. This is why our development is continuing, with in particular the mergers that took place in 2022 in Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Czechia and Slovakia (…) We will be stronger together and better able to develop new solutions to meet patient expectations,” Emmanuel De Geuser, Managing Director of Vivalto Santé.
The group is aiming to create synergy between its various establishments, encourage the sharing of good practices and constitute a transnational medical community to develop, among other things, multi-national medical research projects. An international medical director will be recruited in the near future in order to implement these various projects.
“The 3rd Way”
“Since its creation, the Vivalto Group has set itself apart from other operators in the hospital sector by its model of shared governance between managers and doctors,” said Emmanuel De Geuser. This method of operation can be seen in each establishment. The clinic’s Managing Director talks not only about the projects of the establishment but also about everyday “annoyances”, failings with the Medical Management Committee (MMC), thus putting in place a genuine forum for collaboration and the exchange of ideas.
With regards to the territory (the 50 French Vivalto Santé clinics are located within seven regions), they also operate shared governance Territory Managing Director/Medical Management Committee (MMC), which works in particular on the Territorial Medical Project (TMP) and all organizations of the catchment areas where Vivalto is located.
At the group level, a Strategic Medical Committee (SMC) was put in place at the end of 2022 to act as a think tank for doctors and the representatives of the Group’s general management. “Among its other tasks, it is a place where “Business” developments and issues can be monitored and discussed and strategic guidance provided to the Group,” said Emmanuel De Geuser. “It is also the “guardian of the temple” for the 3rd way, monitoring that it is effectively implemented in the field and that any necessary adaptations to the model are implemented.”
Proof that this shared governance works, one group doctor in three is a shareholder; their shares represent 30% of Vivalto’s total capital. They are therefore represented on the Supervisory Board, the Group’s governing body, with five Director’s seats out of a total of eleven. “Share ownership and shared governance are the two main highlights of the Vivalto Santé Group that make it stand out in the French hospital landscape. This model may, of course, be the subject of discussions in order to adapt it to other countries,” said Emmanuel De Geuser in conclusion.