The Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA) Health Insurance Corporation, which regulates the health insurance sector in Dubai, has launched the first-of-its-kind value-based healthcare model for the emirate.

 

The model known as Ejadah is a value-based model rather than volume-based healthcare.

 

At the launch of the event, which was attended by all health providers, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, DHA’s Director-General Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi said in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, DHA is implementing policies and regulations to further accelerate the development of the health sector keeping patient centricity as priority and ensuring all stakeholders are taken into consideration and work in collaboration with a common vision to advance the health sector in Dubai and to establish the emirate as a medical tourism hub. 

 

Value-based model

He added that the value-based model will further improve health services and enhance preventive care which will lead to better population health and reduced healthcare expenditure. 

 

The value-based healthcare model will pay for performance and outcomes that matter to patients, it will provide healthcare service providers with evidence-based guidelines which will be a framework for all physicians to follow with regard to treatment protocols for all ailments. 

 

Insurance providers will have a strong foundation to refer to evidence-based data and all stakeholders will work together to enhance healthcare and reduce unnecessary medical expenditure. 

 

Government supervision

Saleh Al Hashimi, CEO of Dubai Health Insurance Corporation said: “The initiative will help improve government supervision of the health sector by overseeing clinical outcomes, economic and human-centric outcomes. The model is driven by quality outcomes, it will put health consumers at the centre of the model, focus on preventive care and reduce healthcare expenditure thus leading to healthcare sustainability.”

 

He added that payers and providers will undergo training to understand the framework and KPI’s which will lead to faster claim approvals, minimise waste of healthcare expenditure and focus on preventive care. 

 

Dr Mohamed  Farghaly, Family Medicine Consultant, Diabetologist and Professor of Medicine at Dubai Medical Collage and Consultant at the Dubai Health Insurance Corporation highlighted that the model will lead to a sustainable healthcare system. Dr Farghaly is also the lead of the Ejadah project at the DHA. 

 

An ecosystem

During his presentation, Dr Farghaly, explained how a significant percent of the cost of managing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes actually goes towards managing the complications of the disease rather than the disease itself. 

 

He said that by implementing an ecosystem that focuses on preventive care and patient centered care, this cost can be significantly reduced.

 

He added that the model will empower patients and lead to a sustainable health system. 

 

Improving patient outcomes

Karim Samy, Medical Director and Personalised Healthcare Lead of Roche Pharmaceuticals for the UAE said: “We at Roche Pharmaceuticals are extremely honoured to support the DHA and Dubai Health Insurance Corporation in following through with the vision of Ejadah. We believe that value-based healthcare truly has the potential to simultaneously improve patient outcomes as well as help address the sustainability challenges facing healthcare systems in the region.

 

“Ejadah will work towards ensuring that Dubai’s healthcare sector becomes more sustainable and patient-centric going forward, with incentivising improvements in value – rather than volume – through alternative payment models. It will no doubt also pave the way and inspire other territories in the region to consider similar approaches.”

 

Raising the bar

Ahmed Fadl, GM Merck Gulf said: “Dubai has consistently raised the bar in terms of development and growth, implementing global best practices that have garnered the attention of global cities. This is an important project that aims to increase efficiency, efficacy, and safety whilst utilising best-practices and methodologies. Both qualitative and quantitative improvement has become critical in healthcare today, and the Ejadah program improvements will further increase the quality and address the costs while allowing access to next-generation technology.”-- TradeArabia News Service