This case study looks at FriendlyCare, a chain of clinics established in 1999 to meet the healthcare needs of middle class Filipinos. The concept received financial support from 1999 to 2003 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The founders of FriendlyCare established the clinic after they discovered through a demographic study that (1) the country’s population growth rate remained high over the past thirty years, and (2) the majority of Filipinos who needed healthcare had only limited options. They could either go to expensive medical specialists or queue up in generally overcrowded government health centers. FriendlyCare met the need for affordable medical care for the middle class.

Although FriendlyCare only began to turn a profit in 2010, it offers an example of how to fill a gap in healthcare service delivery that can be applied in other countries.