16th Annual Report 2011-12 - Fortis Healthcare

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A DC practice in Australia
dental services in their markets.
This segment enjoys higher
margins, has the best clinicians
and is expected to witness good
patient demand.
Australia and New Zealand
both have a relatively high level of
healthcare spend as a proportion of
GDP at 7% and 12% respectively
compared to the other countries
in the Asia Pacific region. The
Canadian healthcare spend
follows this trend at 10% of GDP.
Combined, the Australia and New
Zealand dental markets represent
an annual spend of over USD 6
billion and the Canadian market,
over USD 13 billion. All these
markets have developed excellent
healthcare infrastructure and
advanced, supportive healthcare
IT systems.
The dental care spend in
Australia, New Zealand and
Canada continues to grow,
driven by an ageing population,
increasing awareness of the
importance of oral health levels
and advances in dental technology.
Fortis Healthcare is committed
to serving the region and to play
its part in bringing high quality
medical services to the local
population.
Dental treatment is
predominantly privately funded
with differing levels of private
insurance across each market.
DC operates through a unique
partnership model acquiring and
partnering with high quality
dental practices. The model allows
experienced Principal Dentists to
focus on dentistry and also retain
their clinical autonomy, while DC
manages the business functions and
provides comprehensive support
infrastructure to the practice,
such as a streamlined systemsdriven
approach to processing of
accounts payable and payroll and
access to the proprietary on-line
consumables purchasing system
that unlocks buying power for the
practice, giving it a significant
price advantage. DC also provides
integrated HR, Sales & Marketing
and Process Improvement support
to its practices.
The company is well regarded
amongst the dental fraternity and
is the largest employer of graduate
dentists in Australia and New
Zealand. It runs various training
and mentoring programmes for
graduate and associate dentists
and practice support staff. DC has
won several awards including the
Australian Business Award 2011,
in two categories - Innovation
and Enterprise, and the BRW
ANZ 2009 Private Business
Award for the Fastest Growing
Private Business of the Year. The
company was also the finalist
for the BRW ANZ 2010 Private
Business Award in the category of
Fastest Growing Private Business
of the Year (turnover >$100m).
With a significant portfolio
of practices under its umbrella,