This article was written and posted by Management Consulted (see link below). If you’ve been learning about consulting and have an interest in healthcare/life sciences, you might be wondering – “what is healthcare consulting?” The main difference between a healthcare consultant and a generalist consultant is the area of focus. For example, if you are a designated healthcare consultant, you can expect your case work to be only within the healthcare space. On the other hand, generalist consultants can expect to take a random walk where they may get exposure across several verticals, e.g., consumer / retail, healthcare, industrials, etc.
However, while healthcare consulting focuses on a specific sector (unlike a generalist consultant), healthcare consulting, in itself, is still pretty broad. For example, within healthcare consulting, you can have several sub-sector focus areas, e.g.,:
- Pharmaceuticals / life sciences
- Medical devices
- Payers (i.e., health insurance companies)
- Providers, hospitals, and healthcare systems
In addition, within the healthcare space, you can potentially work across several different functional areas, including but not limited to:
Strategy
- Long-term planning
- M&A
Operations
- Organizational design
- Marketing redesign
- Operational efficiency
Generally, being a healthcare consultant is the first step to narrow down your areas of focus. As you get more senior within a consulting firm, you will be expected to “double click” and focus deeper within a specific sub-sector and functional area.
What Does A Healthcare Consultant Do?
The next question on your mind may be “so, what does a healthcare consultant actually do?” Well, the role of a healthcare consultant is pretty multi-dimensional. Generally, a healthcare consultant’s day-to-day responsibilities will mirror those of a generalist consultant. Examples of what a healthcare consultant can do include:
Data analysis
Real world example: For a pharmaceutical company, developing a marketing mix model to optimize their marketing spend
Real world example: For a healthcare system, analyzing patient-level data to provide critical insights to improve quality of care
Critical thinking
Real world example: For a pharmaceutical company, developing a framework for client to understand which therapeutic areas to prioritize
Real world example: For a healthcare system, designing their telemedicine strategy and analyzing regulation towards telemedicine
Client counseling skills:
Real world example: For a healthcare payer, influencing clients such that they adapt more agile ways of working
Therefore, working as a healthcare consultant mimics working as a generalist consultant, with a more narrow focus. As a healthcare consultant, you will be able to build out your consulting toolkit while gaining expertise in a specific sector.
Types of Healthcare Consultants
As mentioned earlier, as you get more senior in consulting, you will need to “double click” on your focus areas within healthcare consulting. There are a few types of healthcare consulting, spanning sector-focus and functional-focus. The types of healthcare consultants are:
Sector Focus, e.g.,
Pharmaceutical / Life Sciences Consulting
In this role, your focus will be solely on one type of healthcare clients – pharmaceuticals / life science clients. In this case, you will work across functional issues within the pharmaceutical space, e.g., R&D strategy, marketing optimization, etc.
Provider Consulting
In this role, your focus will be solely on one type of healthcare clients – healthcare providers, which encompasses healthcare systems, provider groups, etc.. In this case, you will work across functional issues within the provider space, e.g., patient care journey, optimizing hospital operations, etc.
Payer Consulting
In this role, your focus will be solely on one type of healthcare clients – healthcare insurance companies. In this case, you will work across functional issues within the healthcare insurance space, e.g., optimizing spans and layers for payers, improving profitability, etc.
Read more of this article from Management Consulted
