The Espriu Foundation maintains its position as the world’s fourth largest health co-operative, according to the 2017 World Co-operative Monitor, the only report to gather annual quantitative data on the global co-operative movement and that was presented at Kuala Lumpur in the context of the International Co-operative Alliance’s (ICA) Global Conference.
The aim of the document drafted by the ICA and the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Euricse) is to publicise and provide information on the world’s largest co-operative and mutual organisations by offering a classification and analysis of the sector based on the financial data of 2015. Brazilian co-operative Unimed occupies the top place in the ranking, followed by American co-operatives Health Partners and Group Health Co-operatives.
The results of the report place the entities comprising the Espriu Foundation (ASISA, Autogestió Sanitària, Lavinia and SCIAS) among the ten health and social care co-operatives with the highest turnover in the world. In the classification that ranks all the co-operatives without distinguishing by sector of activity, the Espriu Foundation has moved up a place as compared with the previous year and now sits in 223rd place on the list.
Cutbacks in public funding and ageing of the population
The study found that the impact of these organisations is crucial given the ever-growing demands on welfare systems throughout the world, partly due to cutbacks in public funding and the ageing of the population.
Where healthcare is concerned, the study gathered information from 109 organisations in 10 countries, mainly in Europe, where 94 entities were analysed. Throughout the world, 19 health co-operatives exceed an annual turnover of 100 million dollars (92.6 million euros).
The top 10 represent a turnover of 28.5 billion dollars (24.2 billion euros). More specifically, in 2015, the Espriu Foundation reported a total turnover of 1.86 billion dollars (1.5 billion euros).
The Director of the Espriu Foundation, Carlos Zarco, stressed that “co-operatives are sustainable and profitable businesses”. He also highlighted that “all profits are reinvested into our own structures, allowing us to generate wealth and top-quality care with top-of-the-range equipment and better salaries for our doctors”.