<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><!-- generator="Joomla! 1.7 - Open Source Content Management" --><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0">
	<channel>
		<title>Proceur Ltd - Proceur Ltd</title>
		<description>Proceur Ltd brings healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together, in our proprietary buying network.

With over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries, the European healthcare landscape is highly fragmented.  Proceur gives providers and suppliers a basis for making rational pricing decisions, reducing transaction costs and allowing savings to be reinvested for the benefit of all.</description>
		<link>http://www.proceur.com/about/news</link>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:23:01 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<generator>Joomla! 1.7 - Open Source Content Management</generator>
		
		<language>en-gb</language>
		<atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/proceur" /><feedburner:info uri="proceur" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><item>
			<title>Proceur in the news: Interview with Healthcare Europa</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/VDJGTidUx0w/31-20110916-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/31-20110916-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd in the news: Healthcare Europa&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 16 September 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;–&amp;nbsp;Proceur Ltd, the European healthcare procurement network, was featured in an interview in the September issue of Healthcare Europa, a subscription-only new service for the European healthcare services industry:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;Martin Whitbread, former Credit Suisse healthcare services analyst, has launched Proceur Ltd, a group purchasing organisation for the European healthcare industry. He says the aim is to help hospitals and other operators procure smarter. It's a big market - Whitbread claims that Europe's hospitals alone spend $170bn on drugs, medtech and other consumables.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;Whitbread says there are significant price differences across Europe - 30% variations are not unusual and medical devices and consumables, the two areas he is focusing on, can often see much larger differences. &amp;nbsp;That partly reflects the lack of consolidation in the industry. "Over the last ten years, I have been constantly struck by how fragmented the healthcare services market is. This reflects the fact that private healthcare has only recently become 'organised', and it remains a cottage industry in many countries. &amp;nbsp;Meanwhile, the public sector is becoming more decentralised as politicians across Europe introduce patient choice and local accountability."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;He says that prices often vary significantly over time: "During the year the price of a unit can vary up to 15% for some operators."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;Whitbread says the basic idea is aggregated negotiation, but that there is a lot more to the business model. "We are not in the business of forcing operators to reconfigure their logistics - but we do think that by introducing an element of co-operation we can make procurement more efficient. &amp;nbsp;In the current climate of austerity and ongoing top-line pressures this will be relevant for some years yet."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;He is insistent that this will not be done purely at the expense of suppliers: "We'd like to help suppliers grow penetration - with both existing customers and by introducing new ones. &amp;nbsp;It's not a one way street, " adding: "under austerity, pricing pressure is the 'new normal' for many healthcare suppliers. &amp;nbsp;We can help moderate their sales and marketing expense."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="p1"&gt;For more information about Healthcare Europa, see www.healthcareeuropa.com&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.&amp;nbsp; We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.&amp;nbsp; For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.&amp;nbsp; Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.&amp;nbsp; The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.&amp;nbsp; For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; +44 20 72 22 22 90&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/VDJGTidUx0w" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/31-20110916-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>New anti-trust investigations imply higher costs for healthcare suppliers</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/ZvqTgaIaJVU/29-20110915-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/29-20110915-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UK healthcare reforms invite higher costs for suppliers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 15 September 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;–&amp;nbsp;Proceur Ltd, the European healthcare procurement network, sees increasing risks of market fragmentation as driving up the cost of supplying the healthcare market.&amp;nbsp; The UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) today expanded its investigation into the nature of competition in the domestic healthcare market to include Dental Services providers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;Suppliers to the European healthcare market are currently facing pressure from two different directions – pricing pressure as governments implement a raft of austerity measures, and increased sales and marketing costs as healthcare markets become more decentralised and fragmented.&amp;nbsp; Without adjusting to this ‘new normal’ and reducing market-access costs, such pressures will increasingly fall to the bottom line.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;This adds to an existing OFT investigation into the private hospital market, which was launched in March this year.&amp;nbsp; Results of that study are expected by the end of 2011, but a preliminary statement given by the OFT in August cited concerns with:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;A lack of transparency in pricing and quality metrics between private healthcare providers;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;A lack of transparency in the relationship between senior doctors and their host private hospitals; and&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;Many existing facility operators benefiting from ‘local monopolies’ as their hospitals are the only private provider within the region.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;Proceur Ltd helps suppliers to the healthcare industry reduce costs by delivering customers directly to your doorstep. &amp;nbsp;To find out more, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com."&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.&amp;nbsp; We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.&amp;nbsp; For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.&amp;nbsp; Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.&amp;nbsp; The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.&amp;nbsp; For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; +44 20 72 22 22 90&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/ZvqTgaIaJVU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/29-20110915-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>UK health reforms invite higher costs for suppliers</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/us7gdDEGEMg/28-20110907-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/28-20110907-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;UK healthcare reforms invite higher costs for suppliers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 7 September 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;– Proceur Ltd, the European healthcare procurement network, notes that long-awaited healthcare reforms in the UK took a major step forward today as the Health and Social Care Bill passed the lower parliamentary chamber (House of Commons).&amp;nbsp; The reforms aim to increase competition within the public health service (NHS), offering more choice to patients and reducing bureaucracy.&amp;nbsp; However, for suppliers a plethora of new customers expected in the next 2-3 years implies a structural shift in sales and marketing costs.&amp;nbsp; Proceur Ltd helps reduce these costs by delivering customers directly to your doorstep.&amp;nbsp; To find out more, visit www.proceur.com&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To illustrate the governments’ commitment to increase competition amongst NHS service providers, Health Minister Lord Howe at the King’s Fund conference today, said:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left: 36pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;“Patients deserve better… &amp;nbsp;The NHS can be better… We do not favour one sector over another… rather we favour a level playing field where the only determinant of who provides a service is the quality of that service.”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Notes to editors:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Reforms to the public National Health Service (NHS) were proposed shortly after the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government came to power in May 2010 and include:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;From 2013, giving General Practitioners (GPs) budgetary responsibility for commissioning and contracting care for patients within their catchment areas.&amp;nbsp; Currently, commissioning is arranged by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), many of whom also operate secondary care services and are potentially subject to conflicts of interest.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Making all public hospitals in England become ‘Foundation Trusts’.&amp;nbsp; These organisations have substantial financial and operational independence from central government – making sustainability more dependent on local market factors such as service relevance, quality and access.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Reducing NHS management costs by 45%, by removing layers of management including PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.&amp;nbsp; We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.&amp;nbsp; For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.&amp;nbsp; Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.&amp;nbsp; The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.&amp;nbsp; For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; +44 20 72 22 22 90&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/us7gdDEGEMg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/28-20110907-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Portuguese public hospitals owe suppliers a record €1.3 billion</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/uMF97hWbpUI/30-20110907-b</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/30-20110907-b</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Portuguese public hospitals owe a record €1.3 billion to suppliers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 7 September 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;–&amp;nbsp;Proceur Ltd, the European healthcare procurement network, continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.&amp;nbsp; The Portuguese government now owes €4 billion of outstanding bills – with hospitals being one of the worst offenders, owing a record €1.3 billion.&amp;nbsp; This news follows austerity measures designed to save a further €1.3 billion healthcare costs by 2013, through:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;A 12.5% cut to reimbursement to private operators for diagnostic imaging, clinical laboratory services and dialysis services.&amp;nbsp; The private sector provides around 60% of imaging and 90% of dialysis sessions, according to Healthcare Europa;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;Allowing 14 public hospitals to enter bankruptcy;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;Reducing managerial positions in the health sector by 30%; and&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Closing a third of the agencies overseen by Ministry of Health&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: justify;" align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.&amp;nbsp; We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.&amp;nbsp; For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.&amp;nbsp; Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.&amp;nbsp; The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.&amp;nbsp; For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; +44 20 72 22 22 90&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/uMF97hWbpUI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/30-20110907-b</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Austerity measures continue to bite in Spain</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/k0MoP0WkKk0/27-20110826-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/27-20110826-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Austerity measures continue to bite in Spain&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 26 August 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;– Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.Today, one of Spain’s 17 regional autonomous governments (Castilla-La Mancha) has run out of cash, according to the &lt;em&gt;Financial Times&lt;/em&gt; – with one symptom being that pharmacy operators have not been reimbursed for over €150 million of medicines dispensed since May.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This situation, and the risk of similar events across Spain and other European Union countries, increases the need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for both public and private suppliers to the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is supporting healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 9;"&gt;Across Spain, the Spanish Pharmacists Federation expects public healthcare spending to continue falling in real terms until 2013, dropping 8% each in 2011 and 2012.In addition all branded medicines with no generic equivalent have been subject to unilateral 15% price cuts, with doctors now mandated to prescribe by active ingredient instead of brand.Some regional authorities are also requiring hospital-based doctors’ prescriptions to be fulfilled only by the hospital pharmacy – at the expense of independent providers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs &lt;a name="_GoBack"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; tab-stops: 205.55pt 304.8pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/k0MoP0WkKk0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/27-20110826-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Slowing healthcare spending haunts French operators</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/6x5NnHSXGn4/26-20110824-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/26-20110824-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Slowing healthcare spending starting to haunt operators in France&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 24 August 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;– Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.Today the French government announced additional spending cuts to meet its 2011 budget deficit target amid further cuts to GDP growth forecasts.Although no additional healthcare cuts have been announced, we note that public health spending&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; is already expected to slow by 70 basis points YoY in 2011 compared with growth over the last five years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This situation increases the need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for all actors in the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is supporting healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Managing healthcare spend will continue to be a key lever for EU governments to meet their fiscal objectives.Further recessionary risks have been increasing across the EU – raising the risk of additional pressure on healthcare budgets over the next 2-3 years and pushing more of the burden onto patients and the private sector.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Notes for editors:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 9;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;1: Public healthcare spending objectives are set in the National Target for Health-Insurance Spending (‘ONDAM’ – Objectif National de Depense d'Assurance-Maladie), which is targeted at +2.8% for 2011, versus +3.7% in 2009, +2.9% in 2008, +4.9% in 2007 and +3.8% in 2006.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs &lt;a name="_GoBack"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; tab-stops: 205.55pt 304.8pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/6x5NnHSXGn4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/26-20110824-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Poland healthcare market growing strongly but remains highly fragmented</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/hDXJpNae2tg/24-20110729-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/24-20110729-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Poland bucks the EU growth trend – but the healthcare market remains highly fragmented&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;London, UK, 29 July 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;— Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.However, in an unusually bright spot the Polish parliament has today approved the public Health Fund’s budget for 2012 – budgeting for a 7.5% increase over 2011 to zł 61 billion (&lt;span&gt;€&lt;/span&gt;15 billion).Within this is an expected 3.0% reduction in drug reimbursement, similar to measures taken by other countries and illustrating a continued reigning in on healthcare supply costs across the EU bloc.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Poland is similar to the other EU countries in one other aspect – in the immensely fragmented nature of its healthcare system.The country’s 600 hospitals are largely stand-alone entities with limited consolidation today.Although some commentators expect a significant privatisation wave in 2011-13, we see a trend towards further decentralisation as public hospitals continue to be remodelled as independent, limited liability companies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 9;"&gt;This fragmentation increases the need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for all actors in the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is helping healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs &lt;a name="_GoBack"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; tab-stops: 205.55pt 304.8pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/hDXJpNae2tg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/24-20110729-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>German government tightens grip on healthcare spending</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/Mw2UPil_6Q8/23-20110727-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/23-20110727-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;German finance ministry tightens grip on healthcare spending&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;London, UK, 27 July 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;— Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.The German Finance Ministry has structurally increased its scrutiny of the Health Ministry’s legislative proposals, according to today’s Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Although the German health system is financed separately to central government, the Finance Ministry’s “massive interest in… spending by the statutory insurers is new”, according to analysis in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, adding the situation is “most likely a blueprint for future clashes between the finance and health ministries… with health policy now part of budgetary planning."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This situation increases the need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for all actors in the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is helping healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Managing healthcare spend will continue to be a key lever for EU governments to meet their fiscal objectives.Further recessionary risks have been increasing across the EU – raising the risk of additional pressure on healthcare budgets over the next 2-3 years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 9;"&gt;Proceur Ltd helps independent healthcare services providers create scale through our buying network.We help healthcare systems achieve best value-for-money, allowing the basis for rational pricing discussions and creating additional savings for reinvestment in service expansion.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs &lt;a name="_GoBack"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/Mw2UPil_6Q8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/23-20110727-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Italy passes austerity budget</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/U-9X9KGSAYA/22-20110715-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/22-20110715-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Italy passes €48 billion austerity budget – adding to pressures on healthcare industry&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;London, UK, 15 July 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;— Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.Today, the Italian government passed an austerity budget calling for €48 billion spending cuts in 2011-13, including:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Legislation prohibiting suppliers from taking legal action to reclaim debts in regions with exceptionally large healthcare budget deficits (Lazio and Calabria, for example);&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;The introduction of patient co-pays for hospital visits (&lt;span&gt;€&lt;/span&gt;10 for diagnostic appointments, &lt;span&gt;€25 for Accident &amp;amp; Emergency); and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Continued freeze for public sector salaries&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The budget follows measures announced earlier in the year, which included:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Mandatory 12.5% reduction in generic drug pricing;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Regional analysis comparing generic drug utilisation and pricing for the first time;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Pay-for-performance of branded drugs; and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Tighter control over hospital budgets, including central procurement initiatives&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 9;"&gt;This situation, and the risk of further austerity measures in Italy and across the European Union highlights the increased need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for all actors in the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is helping healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; tab-stops: 205.55pt 304.8pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/U-9X9KGSAYA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jul 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/22-20110715-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Greek austerity package tough on healthcare suppliers</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/Yads3_Bun-s/25-20110630-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/25-20110630-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Greek austerity package puts significant pressure on healthcare services operators&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 5;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 30 June 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;– Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.Today the Greek government agreed legislation for a &lt;span&gt;€&lt;/span&gt;28 billion package of spending cuts, tax increases and other measures designed to address the country’s government debt issue.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;In particular, the government aims to keep public health expenditure at or below 6% of GDP, down from 10% currently, and will impact hospital costs by 15% in 2011-12, promote mergers between inefficient hospitals, reduce public sector wages (by an expected 25% in 2011-12), reducing pharmaceutical prices and wholesale margins and consolidating medical device procurement.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This situation highlights increasing need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating a basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for all actors in the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is supporting healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 9;"&gt;Managing healthcare spend will continue to be a key lever for other EU governments to meet their fiscal objectives.Together with further recessionary risks that can be seen across the EU, this raises the risk of additional pressure on healthcare budgets over the next 2-3 years – including pushing more of the burden onto patients and the private sector.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs &lt;a name="_GoBack"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; tab-stops: 205.55pt 304.8pt;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/Yads3_Bun-s" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/25-20110630-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Portugal accelerates austerity measures</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/kYNiGMI3r2w/21-20110628-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/21-20110628-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Portugal to further accelerate austerity measures&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;London, UK, 28 June 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;— Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.Today, the newly-elected Portuguese government announced a further acceleration of measures designed to reduce the country’s budget deficit.Further details were not forthcoming, however the previous government has already established to:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Increase VAT rates, income and corporation taxes by 2-5%;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Cut top public sector salaries by 5%;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Privatise 17 publicly-owned enterprises; and&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;Introduce cuts to a range of Social programmes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Some analysts continue to think the country’s credit rating could be downgraded to ‘junk’ – putting further pressure on the country and its European Union partners.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-outline-level: 9;"&gt;This situation, and the risk of further austerity measures in Portugal across the European Union highlights the increased need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for all actors in the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is helping healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs &lt;a name="_GoBack"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/kYNiGMI3r2w" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/21-20110628-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>European regulation offers attractive market for devices</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/F74-cMnr0I8/20-20110615-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/20-20110615-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Europe offers attractive market for innovative medical devices &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;– but only with lower-cost entry strategies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;LONDON, UK, 15 June 2011 &lt;/strong&gt;– Proceur Ltd, the pan-European purchasing organisation for healthcare services operators, notes two opportunities that are making Europe a more attractive place for launching medical devices relative to the United States.However, without lower-cost market entry strategies, fiscal austerity measures in Europe are likely to erase these advantages.Proceur offers all healthcare suppliers better access to customers, reducing time to market and increasing customer penetration.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Two factors have made Europe more attractive than the US in launching new medical devices:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;New product approval processes have become slower and less certain in the US relative to Europe, according to a recent study by Eucomed, the European medical technology industry association.Eucomed cites evidence for comparative levels of patient safety are achieved between the EU and US – suggesting the European regulatory regime, although faster, does not materially compromise quality and safety.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: normal;"&gt;US regulators are increasingly focused on the financial relationships between device manufacturers and physicians involved in the product development process, whereby full disclosure of payments made will become mandatory by 2013 under President Obama’s healthcare reforms.Although Eucomed’s code of ethics limits hospitality and royalty payments to physicians, manufacturers and individuals face lower levels of public scrutiny.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;However, given the healthcare market faces significant austerity measures and is immensely fragmented, launching new products in Europe has also become much tougher.These factors highlight increasing need to rethink market entry strategies, reducing marketing costs and creating an environment for fair and transparent reimbursement.Proceur’s relationships with European healthcare services operators offer new routes of entry for innovative suppliers while lowering costs and improving patient care.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs &lt;a name="_GoBack"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: normal;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;a href="mailto:martin.whitbread@proceur.com"&gt;martin.whitbread@proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/F74-cMnr0I8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/20-20110615-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
			<title>Proceur incorporated</title>
			<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/proceur/~3/PZW2WfEuNeE/19-20110520-a</link>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.proceur.com/about/news/19-20110520-a</guid>
			<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd established to find best value for Europe’s healthcare budgets &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"&gt;– &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;and bring buyers and suppliers closer together&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;London, UK, 20 May 2011&lt;/strong&gt; — Proceur Ltd is pleased to announce its incorporation today as a limited liability company. &amp;nbsp;We help the fragmented healthcare services industry create scale through our proprietary procurement network, allowing providers and suppliers to achieve best value-for-money, creating the basis for rational pricing decisions and allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Founder and Chief Executive Martin Whitbread said:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"&gt;“Given high public debt burdens combined with low economic growth across the European Union, we expect tough austerity measures to be an ongoing feature of future healthcare budgets.This is in marked contrast to unprecedented growth seen over the last 10 years.&lt;br /&gt; Proceur is supporting healthcare services organisations meet these new challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improve efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Chief Information Officer Andrew Long said:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"&gt;“With our strong relationships with healthcare operators across the EU, we help customers rationalise their procurement expenditure and find best value-for money.For suppliers, there is considerable benefit in rationalising what remains an extremely fragmented customer base, reducing market access costs and increasing customer penetration.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;For more information, or to see how we can help your organisation, call us or visit our website, &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16pt; text-align: left;"&gt;###&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About Proceur Ltd&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 16.0pt;"&gt;Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network. &amp;nbsp;The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit &lt;a href="http://www.proceur.com/undefined/"&gt;www.proceur.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For further information please contact:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; mso-outline-level: 1;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Proceur Ltd&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px;"&gt;Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;+44 20 72 22 22 90&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/proceur/~4/PZW2WfEuNeE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2011 07:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://www.proceur.com/about/news/19-20110520-a</feedburner:origLink></item>
	</channel>
</rss>

