The first Health Information Exchange (HIE) in the Middle East, Malaffi, went live at the end of July just six months after contracts were signed between the project company, Abu Dhabi Health Data Services (ADHDS), and technology provider Orion Health.
ADHDS, the operator of Malaffi, was established as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi (DOH) and Injazat Data Systems, a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company.
Clinicians at four leading healthcare providers encompassing hundreds of facilities in Abu Dhabi can now exchange and access more information about their patients, thanks to the go-live of the Malaffi HIE.
Abu Dhabi has an insurance-based healthcare system, with a mixture of public and private hospitals. They use Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) from different national and international vendors that, until now, have not been able to share information with each other.
Over the rest of this year, Malaffi (Arabic for “My File”) will see more providers and facilities also be brought on board and more information will be added to the platform, while a patient portal and analytics services are also planned for next year.
"Having successfully gone live with Malaffi within such a short period of time is a remarkable achievement given the significance of this first-of-its-kind platform in the region. We are continuously rolling out added enhancements and onboarding more providers within the Emirate in the unwavering pursuit of putting the patient experience firmly at the heart of diagnoses and treatment. Malaffi's centralised database of unified patient records is already facilitating the greater and safer exchange of patient health information between Abu Dhabi's hospitals, clinics, doctors and care teams. Through Malaffi, they will be more informed and more empowered to deliver the highest quality of healthcare,” said Atif Al Braiki, CEO of Abu Dhabi Health Data Services.
"Malaffi will also provide access to population health information to help inform policymakers, which we expect to be of much benefit to the current and future health of Abu Dhabi."
The initial go-live for Malaffi is enabling selected clinicians at four healthcare organisations, SEHA, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD), Danat El Emarat, and Oasis Hospital, to exchange information and access demographic data of about 2.3 million patients as well as to access 33 million encounters, procedures, problems and allergy records, going back five-years.
Ian McCrae, the founder and chief executive of Orion Health, said: “The speed at which Malaffi has moved from contract to go-live is a tribute to everybody involved. There is no doubt that the information sharing that it will make possible will benefit clinicians and patients, and we look forward to working on further releases of the project that are so important for the people of Abu Dhabi.
"Malaffi is also the first health information exchange to go-live in the Middle East, where there is a dynamic health tech market showing considerable interest in population health management. We fully expect to see further health information exchanges developed in the region, and hope to be able to contribute our leading software solutions and expertise to them."
The Malaffi HIE has been built around Orion Health’s Amadeus Platform, which includes a data repository, the Nextgate MatchMetrix master patient index to match data with patients and a provider portal among other components.
The healthcare organisations chosen for the first go-live are all significant: SEHA, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, owns and operates all public hospitals and clinics across the Emirate.
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD), is a large, tertiary hospital that is established as partnership between Mubadala Investment Company and the US-based Cleveland Clinic, while Danat El Emarat is a women's and children's hospital that is part of another large hospital group, United Eastern Medical Services.
Oasis holds a particular place in the region's affections, because it was one of the first hospitals to be established in the 1960s. More than 100,000 children have been born at Oasis, including members of the Abu Dhabi royal family and its government.
About Malaffi
Malaffi - the Abu Dhabi Health Information Exchange, is the Middle East region's first Health Information Exchange platform, that will securely connect all public and private healthcare providers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to create a unified patient record and to improve healthcare quality and patient outcomes.Malaffi is part of the strategic priorities of the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, and is a key component in the digital transformation of the healthcare system in Abu Dhabi.
Providing instant access to the patient's medical history, Malaffi will enhance the transition of care and care coordination, reduce overutilization and duplication of tests and procedures and will enable the practice of precision medicine.
About Orion Health
Orion Health is a pioneering population health management company and one of the world’s leading providers of electronic health records (EHRs) and interoperability solutions to health and care organisations. Worldwide, Orion Health technology is used to facilitate safer, timely and more targeted care for patients. More than 100 million patient records are held in Orion Health systems across in excess of 30 countries. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, the firm has offices in Dubai as well as those in London, Glasgow, Belfast, France, Spain and Turkey.
About Amadeus Platform
Amadeus is a highly scalable platform built on modern technology that can aggregate all types of health data, from both traditional and non-traditional sources. The open platform scales to accommodate the vast amount of data generated by new models of care, to support the journey from population health management to precision medicine. Amadeus' API management layer allows third party developers to build new capabilities on the platform, creating an innovative healthcare ecosystem.