GE Healthcare Partners announces strategic collaborations to transform region's healthcare delivery

• Partnering with Saudi Ministry of Health to drive digitization for achieving measurable improvements in quality of patient care and cost
• Expanding capabilities to deliver patient-centered programs with acquisition of two leading healthcare consultancies:  Finnamore and Camden Group
• Signing MoU with Dubai Health Authority to create centers of excellence and share experience in use of big data for predictive analytical capability 

Dubai, UAE, February 1, 2017:  GE Healthcare Partners, GE Healthcare’s advisory arm, has announced several strategic partnership initiatives that will help transform the Middle East’s healthcare sector by leveraging the strength of digital industrial technologies, big data analytics, and health consultancy expertise. 

In a key digital transformation initiative, GE Healthcare will partner with Saudi Ministry of Health (MoH) to bring the benefits of big data to the region. This joint effort supports MoH’s goal of driving digitization to achieve measurable improvements in quality of patient care and cost. 

Several GE Healthcare Partners’ initiatives are already helping to transform care throughout the region, including the Patient Centered Program (PCP). This first-of-its-kind program has been initiated across Saudi MoH hospitals to drive better patient outcomes through performance measurement and change management. PCP has already been implemented in 30 of the busiest hospitals in the Kingdom, training over 300 Saudi professionals to achieve improvements in hospital operations, and staff and patient satisfaction. It targets high patient traffic areas—emergency, inpatient, and outpatient—to improve operations, patient care, and clinical outcomes.  

GE Healthcare Partners’ recent acquisition of two leading healthcare consultancies—Finnamore and Camden Group—has been instrumental in providing the regional capabilities necessary to drive the Patient Centered Program forward. 

• Finnamore is one of the most respected dedicated health and social care consultancies in the UK, with more than 20 years’ expertise in helping organizations improve operational efficiency, clinical outcomes and patient experience.
• Camden Group is a leading US healthcare advisory firm with expertise in population health management, value-based care, clinical integration, and care redesign. 

Consultants from both Camden Group and GE Healthcare Finnamore will be located in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to provide local expertise and resources to help public and private organizations realize their goals. 

“Digital transformation is the big opportunity before us to support the healthcare sector to deliver better outcomes. A more digital hospital and healthcare infrastructure means faster and more efficient healthcare delivery. By leveraging big data to track and optimize treatment, patient flow, and equipment use in hospitals, even a one percent efficiency gain could yield significant health care savings. Our analytics solutions are built on a foundation of change management and operational transformation capability.  The combination of which has consistently yielded measurable improvement for our clients.  GE has the regional and global capabilities to help healthcare organizations execute their transformation agenda,” said Fida Ghantous, Managing Principal of GE Healthcare Finnamore Camden Group. 

GE Healthcare Partners has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) to jointly explore opportunities to drive the optimization of operations at various DHA hospitals and primary care clinics to deliver its patient experience transformation strategy. It could cover such issues as patient pathways through inpatient, outpatient, radiology, emergency and laboratory departments. The partnership also includes the development of Dubai-based Centers of Excellence to drive better healthcare for Dubai, the UAE and the region.  GE is already contributing to the UAE healthcare delivery system, such as the 'Unison' partnership to enhance 11 radiology departments across the country.