The Hong Kong Hospital Authority begins a search for partners to commercialize its IT assets

Published: 02/26

KOWLOON, HONG KONG, CN – (HealthTech Wire) – Press Release on behalf Hong Kong Hospital Authority - The Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HKHA) is recognized globally as a leader in the use of Information Technology (IT) to enhance the delivery of healthcare services in Hong Kong. HKHA has received many requests from IT Vendors and Healthcare agencies in China and other countries to have access to its software and other I.T. assets. The Authority has embarked on a process to evaluate the possibility of commercializing its I.T. assets and identifying interest from potential partners who can help HKHA strengthen its IT systems with their inputs and help develop long term sustainability of these IT assets.

Developed over many years, these I.T. systems and other assets help clinicians to be much more effective and efficient in providing patient care to Hong Kong citizens. HKHA has been particularly effective in engaging clinicians in developing its IT systems and as a result these systems are extensively deployed and used across all HKHA hospitals. World experts rate these operations at HKHA amongst the best technology deployment in healthcare service operations anywhere in the world.

Previous interest from both IT vendors and healthcare providers to have access to HKHA’s IT systems indicates there is substantial potential for these systems to be used by healthcare providers in Hong Kong, China and other global markets. This, in turn, has the potential to support more effective collaboration between the public and private healthcare sectors – especially in Hong Kong – and to assist HKHA to secure revenue and access skills and capabilities from the IT sector at large. Putting in place structured commercial and operating arrangements in the potential partnership would ensure that this is done without diluting the essential effort and focus of HKHA IT on providing effective support to the healthcare services provided in Hong Kong. This also comes at a time when HKHA is in the process of building its next generation of healthcare IT systems and access to additional private sector resources in this partnership would enable HKHA to continue to build on its past successes in delivering state of the art technology infrastructure to the Hong Kong public healthcare services.

HKHA is open to appropriate and effective collaboration mechanisms for commercializing the assets and to consider various models of partnership that would allow HKHA to make its investments in IT more efficient in the future. It has therefore commissioned IBM Global Business Services and The Dorenfest Group to conduct a consultancy study to assess the potential and appropriate partnership models, and in particular the level of market interest and capabilities to undertake this commercialization and achieve HA’s objectives. HKHA will issue a request for Expressions of Interest (EoI) in March 2008 to assess the level of market interest and also to canvass views about the most appropriate model. In light of the response received to the EoI request and the feedback from its consultants, HKHA will determine how and whether to take forward the commercialization of its IT assets.

“The Hong Kong Hospital Authority is proud of its accomplishments in using I.T. to provide better patient care to Hong Kong citizens,” said Shane Soloman, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority. “We want to explore how commercial partners can help us to build on and exploit these assets on a broader basis in a way that feeds back into improved services in Hong Kong.”