Consultants help hospital group in Bermuda Hospitals save millions

Big Four firm KPMG has helped the Bermuda Hospitals Board save almost $30 million over the last three years. KPMG’s contract will run for another two years, and cost just a fraction of that figure.

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) provides comprehensive diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative services for medical and mental health across the islands, and is comprised of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH), Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI) and the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre.

For the last two years, KPMG has been partnering with the BHB to help improve efficiency in the delivery of services. Signing the initial contract in 2018, the Board extended KPMG’s role through 2019 and 2020, as it continued to search for efficiencies and services improvements to reduce costs. KPMG also took on some strategy work in collaboration with Bermuda’s Government, in support of BHB’s strategy.

Ultimately, KPMG and the BHB tackled a range of projects, including the improvement of “patient flow” through faster admission and discharge procedures. In total, BHB cost savings projects supported by KPMG have saved nearly $30 million in costs according to a statement from the organisation.

A spokeswoman from the BHB told local paper The Royal Gazette, “Even prior to the pandemic, we were focused on ensuring hospital services were as effective and efficient as possible. Efficient services are better for patient care, improved outcomes as there are fewer delays and duplications, and overall helps the healthcare system save unnecessary costs. With the financial impact of the pandemic we are now facing challenging financial shortfalls so this work has become even more critical just for us to break even.”

A list of contracts published in the Official Gazette stated how much this has cost the BHB. The list showed the agreement with KPMG was for the fourth phase of “consultancy support to Bermuda Hospitals Board” and cost about $2 million from August 2020 to August 2023 – taking the overall bill for its services to $5 million over five years.

Other consultants

Elsewhere, the BHB has also deployed consultants to answer a host of other challenges at the organisation. The list of contracts also showed a $285,000, 13-month agreement with The Platinum Group, a recruitment and human resource management company, for a corporate governance consultant.

A 12-month contract for “executive leadership” with Gartner Ireland was also listed with a value of $89,800, as well as a six-month deal worth more than $930,000 with Noesis for a “generator replacement project.”