Philips Adds a New Hospital System to Partnership Strategy

Marie Thibault

The Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital, pictured here, and the future Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, will be included in the new partnership.

Royal Philips was one of the pioneers of the collaboration model between the medtech industry and individual healthcare systems. Back in 2013, both Philips and Medtronic announced partnerships with hospitals, giving the companies broader care provider roles and offering hospitals the potential for better patient outcomes and increased efficiency. 

Philips signed its first partnership with Georgia Regents Medical Center in Augusta, GA in June 2013. The 15-year relationship was worth approximately $300 million. This summer, the company inked a $500 million agreement with Westchester Medical Center Health Network in New York state.

New Hospital Partner Announced

Now, the company has announced an 18-year, CAD 300 million partnership with Mackenzie Health in the Southwest York region of Ontario, Canada. The agreement covers the system's Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital as well as the in-development Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, anticipated to open in 2019.

This is Canada's largest managed equipment services agreement and the hospitals will be able to use new medical equipment and services from Philips and other vendors, with installment, maintenance, and regular updates included, using a single payment structure. Philips plans to offer proficiency for radiology practice management, alarm management, diagnostic imaging equipment utilization, and systems interoperability, among other areas, according to the company release. The company and hospital system will work together to generate useful data from patient informations to try to improve care and outcomes while lowering costs.

Beyond access to medical technologies and analytics, the agreement also covers room design. At the MD&M East conference this summer, Sean Hughes, chief design officer for Philips Healthcare, explained Philips' design consulting work to reimagine hospital spaces.

“To bring our ‘smart hospital’ vision to life, we are partnering with industry leaders like Philips who are at the forefront of innovation,” said Altaf Stationwala, president and CEO of Mackenzie Health in a press release announcing the partnership. 

First Partner Reports Numerous Benefits

In an e-mail to MD+DI, Shawn Vincent, vice president of Partnerships, International Healthcare & Strategic Affiliations at Georgia Regents Health Systems, wrote that the first two years of the alliance were "primarily focused on the replacement of imaging and monitoring systems . . . over 800 pieces of imaging and monitoring equipment were replaced." Services and education "delivered in a systematic, cohesive manner," came along with that new equipment, Vincent noted, and medical students and residents have benefited from training on the latest equipment.

Vincent detailed numerous other benefits, including a plan to start a lab as part of an Innovation Collaboration, as well as development of a hybrid operating room, and assessment and standardization of the health system's AEDs and defibrillators. Georgia Regents now has an alarm management process "where actionable alarms are being tracked at this point" and an "ultrasound study has resulted in a more vigorous process for obtaining imaging equipment, thus providing for better utilization of resources," Vincent wrote.

Vincent added:

James Rawson, MD, chief of Radiology at Georgia Regents Medical Center echoed Vincent's positive feedback, writing in an e-mail to MD+DI that "Working with Philips we have been able to redesign MRI and VIR (Vascular and Interventional Radiology) workflow. We have substantially increased our MRI and VIR volume without additional equipment_avoiding over $7 million capital equipment and renovation cost."

As Maria Shepherd noted in a recent piece for MD+DI, these agreements give Philips regular revenue and a close long-term alliance with the hospital system. Shepherd wrote that Philips has pointed to a few key benefits for hospitals and patients, including access to the latest technology, better care and outcomes, as well as quicker innovation and ongoing education. 

“It takes more than just technology to deliver the right solutions, you need to have a deep understanding of the consumer and the healthcare industry to apply best practices for effective patient-centric care. And with this type of large scale partnership, we are an accountable partner, which will ultimately allow Mackenzie Health to focus on doing what they do best: caring for the people in their fast growing community," said Iain Burns, CEO of Philips Canada, in the release.

Marie Thibault is the associate editor at MD+DI. Reach her at [email protected] and on Twitter @medtechmarie. 

[Image courtesy of ROYAL PHILIPS]