HEALTH ASSOCIATIONS

By bringing like-minded businesses together, Fedefarma and FENIN are driving the healthcare sector forward and helping it grow professionally.

How has the association evolved since its founding?

VINCENÇ CALDUCH Fedefarma was founded in 1928 by a group of pharmacists from Barcelona to face the threat of drugstores at the time when pharmaceutical specialties began to be commercialized. We thus wanted to ensure distribution and dispensation was guaranteed to citizens through the pharmaceutical channel. Under this premise, Fedefarma evolved from the distribution of medicines to the provision of services to the pharmacy; currently, it is an integral partner that develops value-added projects and transfers them to pharmacies to strengthen its sanitary role, at the same time being a more profitable business.

CARLOS SISTERNAS FENIN was established in 1977 as a way to bring companies together in response to a perceived lack of representation, despite numerous problems faced, especially with payment delays that could reach as much as 400 days. Our actual DSO average is around 80 days while law marks a maximum of 30 days. FENIN proved to be highly successful from the outset, and we enjoyed firm relations with the government. Today, we represent around 80% of the market. We also deliver legal, compliance, and regulatory services, among others as initially envisaged by the original FENIN incarnation.

How do you ensure that technological advancements and big data benefit the sector?

VC In Fedefarma, innovation is one of our core values, and we help the pharmacy take on the challenge of digitalization. We have digital management tools such as IOfnet or IOfwin, a business intelligence service such as BIsualfarma and an online training campus, Fedefarma campus. Today, health, and the consumer in general, is omnichannel, and for this reason we recently launched new services in this area. We also have Farmaoffice go, a platform for the development of the digital image and online communication of the pharmacy. It is a personalized platform, consistent with the image of pharmacies from which each pharmacy can work on its website, image, and online communication, manage its services and activities agenda, and create and publish content by sharing them in RRSS and communicate promotions.

CS Health will cost around 30% of every region’s budget. One of the objectives for 2020 is to analyze the value of technology, its life cycle, and its potential to reduce costs. We cannot assess and forecast the health industry based on an annual budget, but in minimum five-year periods. The second priority is medical device regulation and in-vitro regulation, due to be introduced in May 2020. The third priority is market access, as new regulations must enable innovation to reach the marketplace in a timely manner to avoid obsolescence; the country currently has among the highest obsolescence levels in the world. For example, the sector lags in magnetic resistance and X-rays technology. FENIN is developing publication on the comparative level of this problem in Europe and the wider world.