Human longevity has been extended these days, thanks mainly to medical progress and technological innovations. As a result, many countries around the world, including Thailand, are becoming “aging society”, with a large population of the elderly.
Industries that offer products and services relating to the elderly and retirees are enjoying big growth. This is a sizeable market with opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors.
Nittaya “Yo” Chanaisawan, chief executive officer of Bangkok Healthcare Service (BHS), says the current situation offers a good opportunity for business expansion and improvement of the service standard. She points to the need for an integrated business with quality and efficiency for the elderly, covering the creation of personnel, products and services, know-how, as well as innovations.
Khun Yo, as she is affectionately called by colleagues and business partners, has been in businesses relating to the elderly for longer than 20 years.
- A view from 29-year-old Flash Express CEO Komsan Lee
- The Science Park mission of fostering Thai innovations
BHS empire built for aging society
Graduating from Mahidol University’s Faculty of Nursing with a business mind, Nittaya set up a school to train carers for young children and dependent elderly adults.
After two decades of carer training, she has expanded her business empire by offering products and services relating to care-giving, with the focus on the silver population, bed-ridden patients who need rehabilitation, and dependent persons. The nursing services are provided by professional carers.
“Our business focuses on the elderly who are terminal patients and dependent persons. We have no wellness service for healthy old people,” the CEO said.
In addition to the school, Khun Yo built the Bangkok Rehabilitation Center (BRC) and the Ishii Stroke Rehabilitation Center for stroke patients with partial or complete paralysis. The Ishii Center collaborates with Japanese experts in providing rehabilitation based on know-how from hospitals in Japan.
“Wai-La-Moon” service is available for the elderly during the day. BHM Homecare service dispatches physiotherapists and ambulance as well as delivering relevant products to the customers at their houses.
Asia Nursing Home specializes in the elderly. Meanwhile, the company’s Pikul brand has various lines of products made for bed-ridden patients, developed in collaboration with Mahidol University’s Nursing Faculty.
Nittaya also set up the Thailand Elderly Care Business Development Institution (TEBI), which offers monthly training for new entrepreneurs about the business of care-giving for the elderly. The courses are based on her experience of coaching at Commerce Ministry training sessions.
Aiming to expand her business nationwide, the CEO developed a BHS Chain Management system for hospital nursing, with the focus on nursing care and rehabilitation of dependent persons.
She said her company planned expansion into the provinces to cope with higher demand. They first thought of franchising but there could be problems with quality control.
“So, we came up with the chain model like hotels. We rely on all the know-how we have in opening new branches over all the country,” the CEO said.
Initially, BHS may co-invest in new centres depending on the conditions set by their management. Two new locations will start operational later this year. A 60-bed facility in Krabi’s Klong Thom district called Amata Healthcare – Rehab Hospital @ Krabi, highlighting on natural therapy treatment with saltwater hot spring, is scheduled to open its first phase in June. Another facility — Chana Rak rehabilitation centre — is set to open in Ratchaburi province.
Nittaya said the project owners invest in the facilities while BHS is responsible for planning and setting the management system with fees. “There is revenue-sharing. We are not shareholders although we may co-invest in some projects as a business strategic partner.”
For more comprehensive nursing service, BHS has taken over W-Asia to outsource medical personnel for first aid rooms set up at residential buildings, shopping malls, hotels, factories and business places, as required by law. BHS’s target group includes six-star luxury hotels and high-end malls like Icon Siam. Currently, the company supplies medical personnel for 130 first aid rooms, with no plan for expansion in the near future.
Always responding to market trends
Although the business of training carers for the elderly is going well, Khun Yo admitted that social changes make it necessary to constantly improve her business in order to meet the consumer demands. With the improvement, BHS is getting closer to its ultimate goal of becoming the country’s best rehabilitation provider for the elderly and dependent persons.
As the ongoing Covid-19 situation has forced many hotels to close down, Khun Yo is working with banks in suggesting nursing care as a new business model for hotel management. Her plan includes training to reskill hotel staff who already have language skills and service mind.
“Many hotel owners are interested in turning their facilities into elderly care business so that their employees can return to work. Their staffs are well qualified due to their language proficiency and service mind,” she said.
The CEO said her school for carers has now included in its target groups people unemployed due to Covid-19 and business owners looking to reskill their employees.
Aiming to upgrade the industry’s standard
BHS’s main target groups are dependent old people and stroke patients who require rehabilitation so its business does not compete directly with other nursing care centres, Nittaya says.
“Our rehabilitation centre focuses on stroke patients whose number has been on the rise in Thailand. All our brands cater to stroke patients and dependent persons,” she said.
BHS has two short-term business goals — upgrading the standard for the elderly care industry and transforming nursing homes, according to the CEO.
Regarding the standard improvement, BHS aims to create a handbook of best practice standard. For transformation of nursing homes, Nittaya says they need to adopt new technologies to keep up with the digital age.
She said nursing homes should collect their data digitally to ensure “smart” management. “This way we can cut down the work and save the time to focus more on our actual job — taking care of patients.”
Based on the idea, BHS has collaborated with its startup ally Doctor A to Z in developing a new system for managing nursing homes. This new technology has been adopted by all BHS business units to help them transform into nursing homes that are smarter and more modern.
“BHS is a Thai leader in the business of taking care of the elderly and stroke patients. I want to base in Thailand because I still want time for development. And there are many old people in Thailand who need quality care,” Nittaya said.
She added that the business still has a lot of room for expansion in such areas as homecare service, merchandise, and 24-hour consulting call centre.
The CEO has an expansion plan for the next three years. In Bangkok, two more nursing homes will be added to five at present, and one more rehabilitation centre in addition to two now. In the provinces, nine more nursing homes cum rehabilitation centres will be built in addition to two currently. About Bt20 million is expected to be invested on the expansion.
All the nursing facilities should start operational within 2022, she said. The carer schools’ curriculum has been modernised and the number of potential graduates has been increased from 400 a year to 600.
New business model born amid crisis
During the Covid-19 crisis, BHS has adopted a new business model of offering an investment alternative to cash-rich savers and business owners, the CEO says.
She added that BHS is investing regularly in corporate development and quality improvement. “Our employees are well aware that we are not taking advantage of customers. The staff agree they want to be here when they get ill.”
BHS stands out as it focuses on quality and honesty, Nittaya stressed.
The longer stroke patients stay at its facilities, the more money BHS could make. But for BHS, the goal is to help patients recover and return to their normal life as soon as possible, she said.
“Our KPI [key performance indicator] is to make patients recover, and not to make them stay longer. We differ from others that are just doing their business,” the CEO said.
For her, most Thais want to stay at nursing homes near their houses. But the problem is no decent nursing homes are available nearby. The solution for BHS is to bring new healthcare centres closer to people in the provinces who may need its services in the future.
This is a quality business model that requires a lot of knowledge and good heart.
