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2025 BEST IN KLAS
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2024
Middle East Summit 2025
Advancing Healthcare Excellence Through IT
Author
Everton Santos
Author
Jonathan Christensen
In January 2025, KLAS hosted our second Middle East summit, where 101 industry leaders—54 healthcare provider and ministry representatives and 47 vendor/firm/investor attendees—gathered to discuss how to advance healthcare excellence through healthcare IT. The two-day summit featured an awards ceremony for the 2025 Best in KLAS winners for acute care EHR and PACS in the Middle East/Africa as well as for the KLAS Arch Collaborative EHR Experience Pinnacle Award winners. This summit overview draws from ongoing KLAS research, a pre-summit survey, and insights from the summit’s tabletop discussions to share meaningful healthcare IT trends that are occurring in the Middle East.
2025 Best in KLAS Winners in the Middle East
- Health Insights for Acute Care EHR in the Middle East/Africa
- Sectra for PACS in the Middle East/Africa
Arch Collaborative EHR Experience Pinnacle Award Winners
For nurses
- Dubai Health
- Hamad Medical Corporation and Primary Health Care Corporation
- Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare
- King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre
For physicians
- Dubai Health
- Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare
Note: This award honors members of the KLAS Arch Collaborative who have demonstrated that success is possible with the EHR. Qualifying organizations must have a Net EHR Experience Score (NEES) of at least 75.0 for nurses or a NEES of at least 60.0 for physicians.
AI Initiatives Are High Priority for Healthcare Organizations in the Middle East
Prior to the summit, KLAS administered a survey asking provider attendees to share their top IT investment priorities for the coming year. KLAS then merged these insights with our ongoing research conducted globally around top healthcare IT investment priorities. Among the 48 different healthcare organizations who shared their investment priorities, more than half said AI and analytics are a top focus. Of the organizations who mentioned this priority, nearly three-fourths are focused on AI initiatives—for example, defining a general AI strategy, setting up AI governance programs, or pursuing specific technology like ambient speech, generative AI, or imaging AI (see following sections for more details). Over the last two years, AI and analytics have risen in priority level, increasing from 38% of respondents mentioning it as a priority in 2022 to 43% in 2023 and then 54% in 2024. Meanwhile, EHR/digitalization is still a high priority, despite being surpassed by AI and analytics. There are ongoing EHR deployments in Ministry of Health clusters in Saudi Arabia. However, across the Middle East, net-new EHR implementation projects are happening less frequently since most large organizations have already deployed an EHR solution. Instead, many organizations are shifting their focus toward EHR optimization.
The Middle East Is Making Progress with Interoperability
In the last few years, significant progress has been made in the region around interoperability initiatives. KLAS’ latest research shows interoperability’s priority level is lower than it has been in the past, which coincides with the maturation of multiple regional data-sharing initiatives (e.g., NPHIES in Saudi Arabia, Riayati in the UAE, NABIDH in Dubai, Malaffi in Abu Dhabi). During the summit, representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health and from Dubai Health shared their vision for the future of interoperability. They highlighted regional efforts around local patient information exchange and how tens of millions of patients are connected to the data-sharing initiatives across Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Additionally, in Saudi Arabia, there is an initiative to leverage the International Patient Summary (IPS) to allow Hajj participants from other countries to easily share their health records when they seek care in the country.
IT/Infrastructure: Status of the Cloud
Healthcare organizations in the Middle East continue to show interest in cloud technology and want to leverage it to optimize efficiency, security, and accessibility. Multiple EHR solutions are being deployed in the cloud. Considered/used cloud providers include Alibaba Cloud, AWS, GCP, HPE GreenLake, Microsoft Azure, Mobily, NourNet, Oracle Health, SAP, Saudi Telecom Company (stc), and private providers. More information will be shared in the upcoming Global (Non-US) Healthcare IT Trends report, expected to publish in Q2 2025.
Generative AI & Ambient Speech Are Very Frequently Considered
While ambient speech—commonly used for advanced speech-to-text functionality and summarized voice-generated notes—is one of many applications of generative AI, generative AI is used more broadly to organize existing data in EHRs and other solutions. In the pre-summit survey, provider attendees were asked to share how they are applying generative AI applications more broadly, along with what their specific plans are for ambient speech. While adoption of generative AI is still in the early stages, it is increasing. About one-third of respondents are using or are in the process of deploying a solution, and almost all other respondents are weighing their options. Generative AI has cross-departmental appeal; 79% of respondents (includes those who have adopted and those who haven’t yet adopted generative AI) intend to use it for clinical use cases, with roughly 50% looking to use it for operational or financial use cases as well.
Adoption of ambient speech isn’t as high as adoption of generative AI. While a large percentage of respondents are considering using ambient speech in the future, only a small portion is piloting it. Nearly all organizations (95%) considering using ambient speech say they would use it for clinical use cases; less than half would use it for operational or financial use cases. Respondents who are unsure of their future ambient speech plans generally use speech recognition solutions and are unaware of ambient speech priorities in the region.
Imaging AI Adoption in the Middle East Lags Behind Most Other Regions
Another commonly considered form of AI is imaging AI. While many organizations in the Middle East are considering imaging AI solutions, adoption in the region lags behind adoption in most other regions. An early look at ongoing KLAS research shows that currently, only 25% of organizations in the Middle East are using imaging AI—much lower than the 50% or greater adoption levels reported in Asia/Oceania, Canada, Europe, and the US (for more information on US adoption, see KLAS’ Imaging AI 2024 report). Across all regions, the most common imaging AI use cases are breast/mammography, brain CT and MR for stroke, chest x-rays (e.g., lung nodule detection), and bone fracture detection and bone age determination. Look for more imaging AI information (including use cases, adoption, and solutions in use) in KLAS’ upcoming Global Imaging AI report, expected to publish in Q3 2025.
Patient Centricity Is Coming into Focus
Digital health is the third highest priority for organizations in the Middle East, and patient engagement and patient experience initiatives are an important aspect of digital health. At the summit, attendees broke out into small groups to share what their key initiatives are around patient engagement and how they are thinking about the patient experience.
Key Takeaway #1: Improving the Patient Experience
Healthcare organizations in the Middle East are focused on improving, simplifying, and personalizing healthcare for patients—this is often called the patient experience. Many attendees shared that they are evaluating their digital front door and are striving to have more channels available for personalized patient communication (e.g., email, text, WhatsApp, other app alerts). Organizations are also looking at ways to improve the patient journey by using self-scheduling solutions, check-in solutions, and sometimes even solutions that are less involved (e.g., wayfinding). As part of improving the patient experience, organizations are targeting direct patient interactions—they are upgrading chatbots to handle a wider range of patient queries and using digital tools for discharge planning, follow-up, and even digital companions for patients.
Key Takeaway #2: Tailoring Digital Health to Unique Patient Populations
As organizations look to simplify the patient experience, they are mindful of not taking the same approach for all patients. Several organizations mentioned creating personas so they could curate the patient experience to certain types of patients (e.g., older patients, patients that speak a certain language). For digitally savvy patients, some organizations structured their app-navigation process to give patients all needed information within three clicks. For patients who prefer speaking with someone in person about their health, organizations leaned toward providing a more personal pathway. In both cases, however, organizations indicated they were making personal interaction available to patients, as even digitally savvy patients often want to talk to someone directly about something as important and personal as their health.
Key Takeaway #3: Looking for Seamless Integration & Adaptable Solutions
For non-EHR solutions, healthcare organizations need and want seamless integration with existing systems (call center, front office solutions, etc.). The ability for solutions to adapt to various workflows is important for organizations to address different patient personas and journeys.
Key Takeaway #4: Measuring Technology’s Effectiveness
Looking forward, as vendors and healthcare organizations continue to enhance digital health and the patient journey, it will be critical for them to assess how well digital health technology works. Vendor and provider attendees both mentioned various ways to measure effectiveness; some assess the technology itself via standard industry digital measurements, such as cookies or number of clicks (although, they admit that evaluating the user experience on numerous device types can be time intensive). More frequently mentioned methods include assessing the utilization rates of various tools (e.g., kiosks, electronic check-in) and, for healthcare organizations, using surveys (via Press Ganey or NPS) to gauge the patient experience. Other healthcare organizations set up work groups (e.g., patient and family advisory councils, EHR patient councils) to get input on how the technology is built.
KLAS Events: Bring Your Ideas to the Table
KLAS is passionate about bringing together leaders from across healthcare, facilitating their collaboration, and sharing their collective wisdom to spark positive change. Learn more about future KLAS events, and attend to offer your unique insights.
Thank You
KLAS is privileged to work with some of the brightest and most influential leaders in the healthcare industry. We acknowledge and are thankful for the efforts of KLAS’ Middle East Advisory Board members; their advice and connections helped make the 2025 Middle East Summit a success.
2025 Summit AttendeesÂ
Healthcare OrganizationsÂ
Abid Hussain Shah, Group CIO, Saudi German Health, UAE
Adhra Al Habsi, National eHealth Strategy Team, Ministry of Health, Oman
Ahmad Yahya, Group CIO, Saudi German Health, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Eissa, Group CEO, Saudi German Health, UAE
Ahmed Shebl Elatrees, Group CEO, Saudi German Health, Saudi Arabia
Akbar Basha Nayab, Head of IT, Aster DM Healthcare, UAE
Al Anoud Al-Marri, Executive Director of Nursing/Midwifery, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
Alok Anand, Chairman of Diagnostic Radiology, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE
Amar Hijazi, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
Amr Jamal, Chairman of Family and Community Medicine Department, King Saud University Health System, Saudi Arabia
Amrita Kumar, AI Chair/Consultant Radiologist & AI Clinical Lead, British Institute of Radiology/Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, UK
Atif Albraiki, Chief Digital Officer, Dubai Academic Health Corporation, UAE
Augustine Amusu, CIO, Mediclinic Middle East, UAE
Dari Alhuwail, Health Informatics Consultant/Associate Professor, Department of Information Science at Kuwait University’s College of Life Sciences, Kuwait
Faris Algadhi, Senior Health Informatics Analyst, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Saudi Arabia
Faten Yousef, Senior Health Informatics/Clinical Project Manager, Dubai Health, UAE
Gagan Goel, CMIO/COO, Tire Hospital, Türkiye
H.E. Mubaraka Ibrahim, Acting CIO of Information Sector, Emirates Health Services, UAE
Himanshu Puri, Head of IT/CIO, American Hospital Dubai, UAE
Ibrahim Al Ghaithi, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Consultant and Program Director for Innovation & AI, Ministry of Health, Oman
Ibrahim Mansoor, Consultant Pathologist and Chairman Lab/Director Laboratory Services, King’s College Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Jane Dwelly, VP International, CHIME, UK
Jennifer Crabtree, VP of Corporate Communications & Chief of Staff, Tampa General Hospital, USA
Josy Jose, Director—HICT, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
Khaled Hassan Ahmed, Group CFO, Saudi German Health, Saudi Arabia
Kushal Shah, Group Head—Clinical Informatics, Aster DM Healthcare, UAE
Mahmood Adil, National Healthcare Advisor for Ministry of Public Health and Clinical Data & Digital Lead for Royal College of Physicians (UK), Qatar
Mansour Al-Swaidan, Deputy CIO, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Saudi Arabia
Martin Lascano, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mey Al-Khonaizi, Clinical Applications Senior Director, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Al Redha, System Engineer/IT Applications & Services Director, Dubai Health Authority, UAE
Mohamed Khaled Elgebali, Healthcare Solutions Specialist, Prime Healthcare, UAE
Mohannd Safi, Senior Specialist of Quality and Risk Management, Dar Al Shifa Hospital, Kuwait
Monief Eid, Enterprise Imaging & eHealth Senior Consultant, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
Mubarak Alshahrani, CIO/VP of Digital Transformation, King Saud University Health System, Saudi Arabia
Mustafa Hassan, CIO, Novacare Hospital, Pakistan
Nasseer Masoodi, Corporate Vice Chair Clinical Informatics/Chair CIS Optimization Committee, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
Neerajakshi Valmiki, Project Manager—PMO, Emirates Health Services, UAE
Nihat Sebik, Head of Department, Ministry of Health, Türkiye
Nithesh Pejavar, Head of Enterprise Apps and Data Analytics, Aster DM Healthcare, UAE
Norzifiah Abdul Aziz, CFO, King’s College Hospital Dubai, Saudi Arabia/UAE
Omar Ayesh, CEO, EHS, Jordan
Omar Turjman, CIO, Alrajhi Medicine, Saudi Arabia
Osama Elhassan, Specialist, Dubai Health Authority, UAE
Pankaj Bajaj, IT Director, King’s College Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Raed Rafeh, Head of Solutions and Applications Delivery, Dubai Health, UAE
Rizwan Malik, Consultant Radiologist, Bolton NHS foundation Trust, UK
Sam Rogers, Clinical Applications Lead, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE
Samer Abu Hayah, CIO, Alzarha Hospital Dubai, UAE
Scott Arnold, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer/Executive VP/Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Tampa General Hospital, USA
Tamara Sunbul, Digital Health Transformation and Innovation Strategic Advisor, Saudi Arabia
Vikash Sharma, Group CEO, Avisa Hospitals, UAE
Wahg Al Mashaer, Director—Nursing Informatics, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar
Vendors/Firms/Investors
Ahmed Issam, Business Line Manager—Digital Health, Attieh Medico—Sectra
Alexandra Brauman, Implementation Director, Epic
Ali Abi Raad, Country Manager for Middle East, India, and South Africa, InterSystems
Ali Juma Mahmoud, CEO, Hyland/Digitza
Ayham Swed, Sales Director for the Middle East and Africa, Dedalus
Beyza Kaymakoglu, Executive Director EMEA, Rhapsody Health
Bharat Omprakash Gera, Founder, HCHE
Carlos Cardoso, Country Manager, Sectra
Crista BassilMedical, Access, Policy & Government Affairs Lead—the Middle East, Roche
Eda Özceyhan, Founder, Adeo Global
Fattin Nimeh, CEO/Chief Commercial Officer—Head of Healthcare, Vectramind
Garrett Hillman, Director of Business Development & Growth, Vectramind
Gijs Van Brussel, Professional Services, Solutions Delivery, and Support Leader META, Philips
Hager Mohamed, Senior Data Analyst, Topmed
Hossam Afify, Healthcare Business Development Manager, Vodafone
Ihab Ismail, CEO, INFINITT
Ionut Taranu, Head of Strategy and Business Innovation, Roche
Jason Jones, Executive in Residence, Rackspace Technology
Leela Vaughn, Vice President, Epic
Marco Giunta, Global Marketing Lead, Healthcare Insights, Roche
Martin Mellish, Chairman, Aspen Advisory
Marwan Soliman, EMEA Healthcare Director, Hyland/Digitza
Mazin Gadir, Director, Alvarez & Marsal
Michael Ristau, Vice President Global Marketing and International Growth Officer, Solventum (3M)
Mohamed Abdelgawad, Senior Data Analytics—Costing, Topmed
Mohamed Al Holibi, Business Manager, Solventum (3M)
Mohamed Attya, Data Analyst Consultant, Topmed
Murali Krishna Vakalapudi, Founder and CEO, Vectramind
Nasser Shehata, CEO, Health Insights
Nathalie McCaughley, President, AGFA HealthCare
Nayef bin Dajim, CEO, Rameem Medical Co.
Omar Ibrahim, Project Manager, Health Insights
Pankaj Bhati, Director of Growth Strategy, Innovaccer
Richard Hoare, VP, International, Rhapsody Health
Robert Long, Sales Manager, InterSystems
Silvio Selvaggio, Regional President Direct Export & LATAM, AGFA HealthCare
Sam Amory, Managing Director for Dedalus AMEA, Dedalus
Samir Said, General Manager, Connected Care and Healthcare Informatics for the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa, Philips
Sarah Mohamed, Research Consultant, Topmed
Sayf Abdelrahman, CEO, Topmed
Seth Frempong, Global Health Advisor, Rackspace Technology
Sébastien Forbes, General Manager, Epic
Tamer Maher, Operations Manager, Topmed
Véronique Lessens, Global Head of Strategy, Marketing & Communication, AGFA HealthCare
Waleed Alawwad, Sales & Stakeholder Management Director, Lean Business Services
Walid Bahri, Founder & Managing Director, RxNow
Yasmeen Lahloh, Clinical Executive Manager/Solution Executive Manager, InterSystems
Writer
Sarah Brown
Designer
Kath Spencer
Project Manager
Amanda Wind
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. © 2025 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.