USAID presents private hospital assessment results regarding Jordan medical sector competitiveness

The assessment, overseen by USAID, through the USAID-funded SABEQ Program, was conducted in cooperation with six private hospitals during the last month of January.

The assessment was developed by a group of local and international consultants commissioned to determine the competitiveness of Jordan's medical tourism sector specifically the segment made up by hospitals. The development of medical tourism in Jordan raises three questions: Can the Jordanian hospitals compete internationally for medical tourism, attracting patients globally? If not, what gaps are there in infrastructure and other aspects of their services that will make these hospitals more competitive? Finally, what could be done to close these gaps?

The consultants selected the six private hospitals in Amman to act as a representative sample of the private sector hospitals. The hospital selection was based on several criteria, including the commitment of leadership to the project, hospital size, and preparedness for accreditation. The six hospitals included two that were already in the process of preparing for international hospital accreditation, two others were preparing for Jordanian hospital accreditation, and the last two had not started any accreditation process.

Overall, the team identified a number of issues related to the hospitals' preparedness for international market requirements and competition conditions. The issues identified included gaps in the environment of care infrastructure, facility management, proper credentialing of clinical personnel, infection control, use and management of healthcare data, appropriate assessments and care of patients as well as the quality of care and the response to patient safety issues. Additional findings of the assessment included that the hospitals were in need of interventions both to enhance staff awareness on these critical issues and to train their personnel.

During the workshop, the team reached a consensus on an extensive educational and training plan that would involve a number of medical professionals and support staff from private hospitals in Jordan. The goal of the training would be the development of Jordanian expertise, and development of hospital capacity towards the goal of attracting more high value incoming patients

The Medical Services Sector is an important and vibrant sector in Jordan and hospitals are considered as an important segment of the medical service providers where the patients can receive a wide range of services. In total, Jordan has 101 hospitals of which 58 are privately run. According to the Private Hospital Association Chairman, Dr. Fawzi Hammouri 'The average occupancy rate of the total hospitals is 64.2%, which indicates that local hospitals have the capacity to accommodate incoming paitents, therefore making the medical tourism sector a significant contributor to the growth of Jordan's economy.' PHA estimates that medical services provided to foreign patients generates around $650-700m in revenue to more than 120,000 incoming patients per year . One of the main objectives of the national strategy for the Jordanian Medical Services sector is to target and increase the number of in-coming patients and revenues generated from their treatment and stay in Jordan.

USAID/SABEQ is a five year broad economic development initiative implemented by BearingPoint, Inc. and a sizeable team of international and Jordanian partner firms. By both supporting improvements in the business environment and providing assistance to expand innovation and productivity in Jordanian businesses, it supports the main objective of building up the private sector as a powerful engine of economic growth.