AUK CCE Hosts Panel Discussion in Partnership with GATES Group

The Center for Continuing Education (CCE) at AUK held a panel discussion with GATES Group in the AUK theater. The conference, titled “Roadmap to Sustainable Quality in Healthcare Through Education, Digitalization & Accreditation,” discussed how major healthcare players, whether regulators, payors, or providers, can better cooperate and develop their business model towards a value-based patient-centric model. 
 
The panel discussion included a range of highly influential decision-makers. Partaking in the panel discussion were Mr. Ali Al-Hendal, deputy CEO at Gulf Insurance Group (GIG); Dr. Raghad Al-Kazimi, CMO at Al-Salam Hospital and representative of the Kuwait Private Hospitals Association; Mr. Ahmad Najjar, pre-sales manager at MGS; Dr. Ali Charara, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at AUK; and Dr. Adel Oleik, GATES Group founder and managing partner.  
 
The discussion was preceded by an opening speech from Ms. Amal Al-Binali, AUK’s executive vice president, and moderated by Mr. Samer Hanna, executive partner and consultancy director at GATES Group. The key organizer was Ms. Nehal El Shafei, CCE director at AUK.  
 
The panelists highlighted international trends in healthcare economics and quality together with the Kuwaiti healthcare system challenges and future needs. Mr. Ali Al-Hendal detailed the challenges of healthcare insurance, all affecting patient care, and focused on quality, revenue cycle management, and win-win relationships between hospitals and insurance as responses to these challenges.  
 
Dr. Adel Oleik clarified the roadmap of a value-based reimbursement model and its health economic implications. Dr. Oleik suggested a roadmap for organizations to be sustainably accredited that involves a triangle of education, digitalization, and consultancy. The partnership between CCE-AUK and GATES Group, through offering internationally accredited certifications and training programs, will make capacity-building and training of healthcare leaders and professionals on international accreditation standards and change management methods more accessible.  
 
In turn, Dr. Raghad AlKazemi described the weakness of the quality culture in healthcare institutions, as she explained the need to look at quality and safety practices beyond taking precautions against COVID-19 and infection control measures. She also emphasized the role of leadership in promoting sustainable quality and accreditation in healthcare institutions. 
 
Dr. Ali Charara discussed the role of education in building leaders, emphasizing that AUK educates on tasks and behaviors. He talked about the transition of leadership approaches in organizations and urged educational institutions to cope with this change by tailoring academic and certification programs to bring sustainable practices to healthcare organizations. 
 
Mr. Ahmad Al-Najjar spoke about technology being seen as a tool to achieve a specific goal. He talked about how healthcare organizations should understand the role of digitalization and include in their strategies the adaptation of digital transformation. He also mentioned DQuaM©, a digital solution for quality management that helps reduce paperwork burden and make quality everyone’s everyday job. 
 
Mr. Lindsay Sales, senior expert at GATES Group from the audience attending online, added that incentives are highly important in a value-based reimbursement model, and he shared his experience in Australia where insurers, if accredited, were paid an additional daily payment. It also contributed to being classified as a preferred provider by insurers. 
 
The panel was followed by a discussion with participants who provided reflections and asked the panelists about various topics presented. Key interventions were from Mr. Alex Jankuloski, Kuwait Hospital CEO; Mr. Ibrahim Qaddoura, New Mowasat Hospital CFO; Mr. Yousef Alabdullah from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS); and Dr. Shaimaa Rabaeah from Kuwait Technical College.  
 
This event paved the way for wider collaborations between the public and private sectors to drift away from commercialized healthcare practices and move towards a patient-centered healthcare system in Kuwait. 
 
 
 

Group photo of the panel discussion speakers
  

Group photo of the panel discussion speakers with AUK’s members