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Agility GHS Commences Operations in Dubai
By Marius | Published June 03, 2011
This week, South Africa-based medical system administrator and managed care provider, Agility Global Health Solutions, began operations in the Middle East through a joint venture agreement with a local insurance conglomerate.
Agility GHS’ partnership is with the Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Co. (also known as AMAN Insurance). The joint venture, named Amity Health, provides various coverage options throughout all Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries and will develop the presence of Agility GHS services in the region’s growing private healthcare market. The company believes that its consultancy services could help double this new regional enterprise’s annual revenues within three years.
AMAN Insurance has been proactive in expanding the Gulf’s insurance capacity. Last month, the firm announced a partnership ICICI Lombard General Insurance to develop suitable coverage options for the substantial non-resident Indian (NRI) population now living and working in the UAE and across the MENA region. As citizenship and permanent residency are not often granted to immigrants in these countries however, maintaining affordable access to necessary services like healthcare remains an issue for many non-resident immigrants.
Speaking on the launch of their joint venture with AMAN, Mike Collier, Chief Executive of Agility GHS, explained that despite the current political unrest spreading through the Middle East, the region was prosperous and the desire of its citizens to improve their health outcomes and general lifestyle remained.
“We are going there because there is market growth but they are relatively inexperienced in managing health risk. In Dubai, one in five adults is diabetic, that is 20 percent of the population, we need to look at how do we keep the people healthy,” Collier remarked.
Collier further argued that the recent moves in the GCC to instigate national health insurance reforms would need the private sector’s resources and expertise to achieve its lofty targets. “There is legislation being pushed to introduce mandatory private healthcare insurance for everyone. Health care will still be free because contribution will be underwritten by government, but it is being pushed through private providers,” he said.
Amity Health began operations last December. To date, the company has developed a network of over 800 service providers. Amity also holds contracts with 45 large employer groups and are projected to cover over 30 thousand people throughout the Gulf by the end of the year.
Now with Agility GHS’ involvement, the Amity Health portfolio could expand rapidly and within three years would be expected to provide coverage for more than 1 million GCC citizens. Introducing comprehensive medical savings accounts and wellness programs in the region will help encourage Amity Health members to stay healthy, remain lifetime policyholders and ultimately draw further business.
Collier further explained that ensuring positive health outcomes had not been a focus for the insurance market previously in the region, and companies had suffered as a result. “At the moment, there is no relationship between wellness and insurance and I think the market is prime for that. All the insurers who offered risk have been burnt because they did not structure the products accordingly,” he said.
Agility GHS first became involved in the Middle Eastern market in 2006. The company started off offering technology and outsourcing solutions to regional health insurers and assisted in managing certain risks for their health portfolios. Agility GHS entered Australia in 2004, providing similar IT services for healthcare financiers, and have since also moved into Hong Kong, Pakistan, Nigeria and India.
“Throughout Africa, people want better health. We have a plan for Hong Kong and we are working on a strategy for Pakistan ahead of India. Our partners in Dubai are talking about Turkey,” Collier added.
Agility GHS now plan to use the Dubai office as a central hub to further extend its international operations. From here on out, the company would prefer expansion through the joint venture model and working with local partners. Agility GHS are looking for similar AMAN-Agility partnership agreements in countries it currently is operating in as well.
Agility GHS’s recent international expansion efforts have been driven by their home market, South Africa’s, protracted discussion about and implementation of a universal health insurance system, The National Health Insurance (NHI), in 2012. The company currently employs 300 people in South Africa and administers Resolution Health, an open health scheme that covers over 140 thousand lives. The influx of thousands of previously-uninsured customers into Agility’s local health network could overwhelm both institutional capacity and the cost-effectiveness of the company.
In his closing remarks, Collier confirmed that the NHI posed unpredictable risks to their operating model within the country and Agility GHS needed to enter new markets to ensure their long-term solvency.
“The NHI has simply accelerated the need to mitigate the risk. We endorse the idea of better access and better health care for everyone but we can’t predict what the NHI will mean for our business,” he concluded.
Insurance Companies Mentioned
Agility Global Health Solutions
Agility is a leading consultancy firm, providing information systems and outsourcing solutions for insurance companies, medical schemes and government organizations around the world. Agility’s solutions are individually managed to meet a client’s strategic goals and to enable them to benefit from the advanced use of technology. Since 1994, Agility has offered compelling business value propositions for its clients.
AMAN
Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Company (AMAN) was founded in 2002 as a national public shareholders company focused on Islamic insurance in the UAE. Aman’s founding members included the Dubai Islamic Bank and The Dubai Group among other shareholders. The Company offers general insurance products, including engineering, general accident, fire, marine, and motor insurance products. Aman can also provide life and health takaful insurance products for individuals, groups, and corporate clients, as well as healthcare insurance products, investment securities and property services.
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