The best consulting firms for Healthcare, Pharma and Life Sciences
The healthcare consultancy industry comprises of a handful of global firms and huge array of small/boutique to medium size firms that specialise exclusively in this area focusing their efforts across the whole value chain, from R&D to product launch, whilst others may focus on a specific portion of the lifecycle.
As the National Health Service continues to seek out savings opportunities while the government remains reluctant to up spending on the institution and, as health insurance and pharmaceutical costs threaten to spike in the near future, consulting firms are in demand in both the private and public sector to help the health industry negotiate the issues of the day.
A new survey conducted by professional services firm IgeaHub has revealed which consulting companies are considered the best in the healthcare space. Following a large polling process among life science and healthcare industry executives, researchers, investors, health policymakers and patient advocates, the researchers found that QuintilesIMS – recently rebranded as IQVIA – McKinsey & Company, ZS Associates, Accenture and Deloitte provide the best consultancy services in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals landscape.
American multinational IQVIA, formerly Quintiles IMS, works to serve the combined industries of health information technologies and clinical research. The firm, which rebranded in November 2017, boasts approximately 55,000 employees in more than 100 countries. Last summer, the firm entered into a strategic collaboration with the NHS Cancer Vanguard, with a view to contributing its anonymous patient level, real world data on drug usage treatment costs and outcomes, in order to extend the capabilities of the national body.
Second placed McKinsey & Company and fifth placed Deloitte were both recently named top healthcare consultancies for the UK by Statista and the Financial Times. McKinsey reportedly struck a lucrative deal with NHS Improvement for a new partnership to “develop our internal organisational development work”, and to clarify NHS Improvement’s “purpose and operating model” – according to the Health Service Journal. Deloitte was meanwhile a recipient of several accolades at the most recent HealthInvestor awards.
Professional services firm ZS Associates ranked third. The company’s Medical Products and Services practice provides a wide range of sales and marketing consulting, outsourcing and technology offerings to medical device and diagnostics companies as well as those specialising in medical supplies, equipment, distribution and healthcare services. The firm counts household healthcare names such as Astra-Zeneca, Bayer, GE Healthcare and Pfizer among its clients. Multifaceted IT and advisory firm Accenture meanwhile positioned fourth. Accenture recently published research suggesting that by making the overall healthcare industry more efficient, artificial intelligence applications could create $150 billion in annual healthcare savings in the US by 2026.
Rounding off the top ten, BCG, Clearview, Navigant, PwC and The Advisory Board Company all ranked highly among healthcare executives. Founded in 2007, ClearView Healthcare Partners is a global strategy consulting firm serving the life sciences sector, while Navigant has been working to expand its health offering over a number of years – including the acquisition of services provider Revenuemed. Big Four firm PwC has one of the largest healthcare networks advising clients – including policy makers, healthcare providers, payers and health sciences – to meet the challenges of addressing value, new entrants and new global markets, while The Advisory Board Company recently sold its healthcare assets to Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group, in a deal worth $1.3 billion including debt.
Rounding off the 20 firms for healthcare consulting, Big Four member EY ranked 11th; followed by Huron, which recently acquired HSM Consulting; L.E.K. Consulting, which recently boosted its healthcare wing with three new senior staff; international strategy firm Bain & Company; and global management consultancy FTI Consulting. Concluding the list were Chicago-based The Chartis Group, life-sciences and health strategy specialist Health Advances and Kaiser Associates, a boutique strategy consulting firm based in Washington DC and London, as well as Marsh McLennan Companies subsidiaries Mercer and Oliver Wyman.
