UAE eHealth Week will launch new professional groups - the Women in Health IT, an exclusive GCC Healthcare CIO group, and a Medical Informatics mentoring and training programme that will offer opportunities for health professionals to reach their full potential.

UAE eHealth Week will be held from 12th November to 14th November 2017. Since the 2016 conference edition, healthcare authorities have been creating plans to achieve the UAE Cabinet’s Goal of a Unified Medical Record by 2021. In response, private sector healthcare providers have also ignited investments in health IT to enable digital patient records.

"These initiatives paired with healthcare payment reform in Dubai have touched off the biggest transformation of UAE healthcare since 2006," commented Jeremy Bonfini, Executive Vice President of HIMSS International. Bonfini added, "The HIMSS Analytics survey of UAE hospitals shows marked improvement in digitization which will be expanding to outpatient facilities and regional health information exchange. We expect additional announcements and accomplishments to be announced during the opening of UAE eHealth Week on 12th November."

While each hospital and health authority has a different approach, the overarching goal is to ensure that the right information is available at the right time to improve the health of patients and citizens. The National Unified Medical Record project led by the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention has a key focus on population health. At UAE eHealth Week, health information exchange will be examined on multiple levels: across the GCC, within the UAE public sector and among private sector practitioners.

After the conclusion of the first two days of the Conference in Dubai, the UAE eHealth Week will open up in Abu Dhabi on 14th November. Abu Dhabi hosts one of the most mature electronic medical records, EMR, implementations in the UAE. A key priority in Abu Dhabi is to reduce unnecessary tests and procedures to improve quality and reduce costs. Private sector hospitals will also be invited to assess their readiness for health information exchange in Abu Dhabi and beyond.