KPMG and DXY launch book titled “Human: Solving the Global Workforce Crisis in Healthcare”
KPMG and Dingxiangyuan (DXY), an online networking site for healthcare professionals, jointly hosted a virtual conference for the launch of the Chinese version of the book, Human: Solving the Global Workforce Crisis in Healthcare. Attendees included Mark Britnell, KPMG’s global chairman for health, and the book’s author; Jenny Yao, KPMG China’s head of healthcare and Tiantian Li, founder, and chairman of DXY.
The original English version of Human: Solving the Global Workforce Crisis in Healthcare published by Oxford University Press was first available for sale in China in May 2019. The Chinese version of the book has now been released and provides readers with a review of the fundamental workforce issues existing in the current healthcare sector and provides 10 strategic measures to address them. It offers insights for addressing the workforce crisis facing the global healthcare industry, and also as a key reference for the effective transformation of the industry.
Tiantian Li, Founder, and Chairman of DXY said, “Patient safety and healthcare quality are two of the guiding principles of the healthcare sector, which explains why the industry is so reliant on its workforce. As a platform for the medical profession, DXY is dedicated to matching medical professionals with positions that best suit their values. Based on its value proposition of openness and inclusion, DXY hopes to address the medical workforce crisis by continuously sharing insights and by communicating China’s experiences with other countries around the world.”
Jenny Yao, Partner, Head of Healthcare, KPMG China, added, “The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant challenge to the global healthcare system. The critical lack of medical professionals has even forced some medical students in Europe to graduate earlier than scheduled and join the fight against the pandemic. Medical professionals around the globe are at the frontline in the fight against this disease, which reflects their sense of responsibility and humanitarian ethos. However, we should also note the imminent workforce crisis that the global healthcare industry is facing.”
According to the book the global healthcare sector, currently standing at just over $9 trillion, is the second-largest industry in the world. Yet the capability and capacity for the industry to replenish itself, innovate, and become more productive is not sufficient, in addition to ongoing workforce shortages.
One of the reforms suggested in the book is reimagining the pyramid of care. The clinical hierarchy of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and care assistants has remained largely unchanged for a century or more, and most expenditure on education, training, and development of healthcare workers is focused at the top of the skills pyramid. Increasing training and resources for lower-skilled care workers at the bottom of the pyramid can be a potential solution to the rapid rise in number of aging and chronic patients.
