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Middle East Summit 2024
The Next Phase in the Middle East Digital Transformation Journey
Author
Everton Santos
Author
Jonathan Christensen
In January 2024, KLAS hosted our first Middle East summit, attended by 44 healthcare representatives and 53 healthcare IT (HIT) vendor and consultant attendees. This two-day summit featured the first non-US Best in KLAS awards ceremony, celebrating the 2024 Middle East acute care EHR and PACS winners (Oracle Health and AGFA HealthCare, respectively), with presentations from Ministry of Health representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Educational sessions that focused on aligning vendors with the needs of Middle Eastern healthcare organizations were also presented. This overview shares data from a pre-summit survey as well as findings from summit discussions regarding healthcare areas that need policy clarification and refinement.
Pre-Summit Survey
Prior to the summit, KLAS administered a survey asking attendees to identify the areas in healthcare that need the most policy refinement. The most common answers were artificial intelligence (AI) and data sharing. Organizations report that they need industry policies for AI and data sharing to be simple and understandable; additionally, when possible, policies should mimic those of other governments’ regulatory bodies (e.g., the FDA in the US).
Key Takeaways from Tabletop Discussions
The following sections summarize tabletop discussions held at the summit regarding artificial intelligence and data sharing, the areas that pre-summit survey respondents identified as being most in need of policy refinement.
Artificial Intelligence
Summit attendees’ biggest need regarding policy refinement is increased clarity around AI definitions, ethics, and rules. Many healthcare organizations are hesitant to leverage AI because they don’t know what use cases are feasible and ethical (e.g., whether AI can be used for predictive decision-making in a similar way to clinical decision support). Additionally, organizations are uncertain how to address ethical concerns about AI, such as whether patient health information can be exposed to AI models in a sandbox or blinded and used for research purposes without getting patients’ consent. It is also unclear whether vendors or healthcare organizations should be responsible for ongoing validation and recalibration of AI models to ensure that the data models accurately reflect local population demographics.
Data Sharing
Summit attendees also want clarified or new policies for data sharing across countries. Healthcare organizations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are working to facilitate better data sharing within their own countries, but currently, data cannot travel across geographic borders—despite the fact that patients frequently do. Additionally, organizations need to be able to protect sensitive patient data from cybersecurity breaches or unintended sharing. These needs are not easily met; establishing data sharing policies and abilities will require a standardized data dictionary to support semantic interoperability, thus ensuring understanding among clinicians, coders, and other staff. Bidirectional sharing capabilities and clearly outlined technology standards are also needed. For both in-country and cross-country data sharing, summit attendees emphasized the importance of training. Shared data needs to be better presented in clinician workflows, and clinicians need to be trained on how to access, interpret, and trust outside data.
Policy Timelines Need to Be More Realistic
During discussions at the summit, another need frequently mentioned by attendees was the need for more-realistic regulatory timelines. Healthcare organizations and vendors both noted that regional regulatory changes can happen without warning and require implementation within short timelines, creating a significant burden on both groups to comply.
Middle East Summit 2025
KLAS’ second annual Middle East Summit will occur in Dubai, UAE, on January 24–25, 2025. Healthcare leaders who are interested in attending can learn more about and register for the summit here.
2024 Summit Attendees
Healthcare Organizations
Abdullah Al-reedy, Clinician Lead, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia
Abid Hussain Shah, Group Chief Information Officer, Saudi German Health, UAE
Ahmad Yahya, Chief Information Officer, American Hospital Dubai, UAE
Ahmed Abdellatif, Analytics Manager, Sidra Medicine, Qatar
Alok Anand, Chairman of Diagnostic Radiology, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE
Amar Hijazi, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
Amr Jamal, Chairman of Family and Community Medicine Department, King Saud University Medical City, Saudi Arabia
Arvind Sivaramakrishnan, Chief Information Officer, Karkinos Healthcare, India
Atif Albreiki, Chief Digital Officer, Dubai Academic Health Corporation, UAE
Augustine Amusu, CIO, Mediclinic Middle East, UAE
Carolyn Millward, CFO, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, UAE
Dina Elbestawy, Director of Physician Informatics, Mediclinic Middle East, UAE
Fadi Zalloum, Senior Manager of Clinical Applications, American Hospital Dubai, UAE
Fahad Bindayel, Director of Applications & Health Informatics Services, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Saudi Arabia
Gürhan Zincircioglu, CMIO/COO, Tire State Hospital Türkiye, Türkiye
H.E. Mubaraka Ibrahim, Acting CIO of Information Sector, Emirates Health Services, UAE
Ibrahim Mansoor, Consultant Pathologist and Chairman of Lab, International Medical Center, Saudi Arabia
Ivan Anthony, Chief Information Officer, NMC Healthcare, UAE
Jaleel Rahiman, Director of IT and PRIME Digital, Prime Healthcare, UAE
Lamia Aboukamar, Biomedical Informatic Consultant and Critical Care Automation Project Lead, Kasr Alainy Cairo University, Egypt
Mahmood Adil, National Healthcare Advisor for Ministry of Public Health (Qatar) and Clinical Data & Digital Lead for Royal College of Physicians (UK), Qatar
Mansour Swaidan, Deputy Chief Information Officer, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Saudi Arabia
Martin Lascano, Chief Medical Informatics, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mohamed Khaled, System Engineer of IT Applications & Services, Prime Healthcare, UAE
Mohammad Al Redha, Director of Health Informatics and Smart Health Department, Dubai Health Authority, UAE
Monief Eid, Enterprise Imaging and eHealth Senior Consultant, Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
Mubarak Alshahrani, CIO, King Saud University Medical City, Saudi Arabia
Muzammil Khalil, Senior Program Manager, Clemenceau Hospital, UAE
Naushad Mohammed, IT Director, Vamed/Reem Hospital, UAE
Neeraja Valmiki, Project Manager—PMO, Emirates Health Services, UAE
Nihat Baris Sebik, Head of Department, Ministry of Health of Türkiye, Türkiye
Noura Abdulla Matar Al Darmaki, Applications Support Manager, SEHA (Abu Dhabi Health Services Company), UAE
Osama Elhassan, Specialist, Dubai Health Authority, UAE
Ramzy Ross, Director of Shared Allied Services, Mediclinic Middle East, UAE
Rashed Almeqbali, Acting Manager of Information Technology, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City Ajman, UAE
Richard Storey, Chief of Health Information Communication Technology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
Rizwan Malik, Consultant Radiologist, NHS, UK
Sam Rogers, Clinical Applications Lead, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE
Tamara Sunbul, Medical Director of Clinical Informatics, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Saudi Arabia
Veneeth Purushotaman, Group CIO, Aster DM Healthcare, UAE
Vikash Sharma, Group CEO, Avisa Hospitals, UAE
Vendors/Consultants/Investors
Ahmed Issam, Business Line Manager of Digital Health, Attieh Medico
Akhter Hemayoun Mubarki, AVP Engineering & R&D Operations and Founding Team Member, Innovaccer
Akram Dhaini, VP and Managing Director (MEA), Oracle Health
Alexander Ryan, Director, Hyland Software
Ali Nairat, Enterprise Informatics Business Leader—META, Philips
Anjum Ahmed, Global Chief Medical Officer, AGFA HealthCare
Ashish Dhawad, CEO, Medsynaptic
Ayham Swed, Sales Director (Africa, Middle East), Dedalus
Beyza Kaymakoglu, Executive Director EMEA, Rhapsody
Bharat Omprakash Gera, Founder, Human Centric Healthcare Ecosystem
Carlos Cardoso, Country Operation Manager, Sectra
Christopher Brice, EMEA Healthcare Director, Hyland Healthcare
Debbie Young, Healthcare Partner & Vice Chair, Deloitte
Fattin Nimeh, CEO, Bluewaters Health
Greg Andrew, Executive Director, Cordea Health
Haytham Allam, Professional Services Director, Topmed
Hossam Afify, Digital Healthcare Business Development Manager, Vodafone
Ihab Ismail, Chief Executive Officer (MEA), INFINITT
Ionut Taranu, Head of Strategy and Business Innovation, Roche
Jacques Baudin, Head of Commercialization EMEA-LATAM, Roche
Jake Proffitt, Implementation Director, Epic
Jane Dwelly, International VP, CHIME
Kevin Erdal, Global Digital Health Leader, Nordic Global
Kieran Hughes, President, Nordic Global
Kiran Joshi, Research and Development, Epic
Leela Vaughn, VP, Epic
Martin Mellish, Chairman, Aspen Advisory
Mary Mirabelli, SVP of Corporate Strategy, HFMA
Mazin Gadir, Director, IQVIA
Michael Ristau, VP of Global Marketing and International Growth Officer, Solventum (3M)
Mike Blundell, VP of Consulting and Delivery, Cordea Consulting
Mohamed Al Holibi, Business Manager, Solventum (3M)
Mohamed Shoura, CEO, Paxerahealth
Mohammad Al Omari, Country Head (UAE), Roche
Mohammed Abdelaal, Senior Manager of Digital Healthcare Strategy and Product, Vodafone
Mona Habib, Customer Success Director, Topmed
Murali Krishna, Founder and CEO, Vectramind
Nasser Shehata, CEO, Health Insights
Omar Ayesh, CEO, Electronic Health Solutions
Paul Bonnet, General Manager, VIDAL Vademecum
Paul Chadwick, Executive Vice President (UK), Spectral MD
Robert Long, Sales Manager, InterSystems
Rohan Sawhney, Partner, Deloitte
Rony Gergy, Senior Business Director of Emerging Markets, GE HealthCare
Sagnik Bhattacharya, CEO, Rhapsody
Sam Amory, MEA Managing Director, Dedalus
Samir Said, General Manager of Connected Care and Healthcare Informatics (Africa, ME, Türkiye), Philips
Sayf Abdelrahman, CEO, Topmed
Simon Philip Rost, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, GE HealthCare
Tanuj Gupta, Business Leader of Cardiovascular Informatics and Enterprise Informatics, Philips
Terri LeFort, President of Nordic International, Nordic Global
Vaidyanathan Sathyan, Senior VP of Strategy and Business Development, Mach7 Technologies
Véronique Lessens, Global Head of Strategy, Marketing & Communication, AGFA HealthCare
Wensheng Fan, CEO, Spectral MD
Yasmeen Lahloh, Clinical Executive Manager, InterSystems
Writer
Natalie Hopkins
Designer
Natalie Jamison
Project Manager
Sydney Toomer
This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2024 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.