Achieving better health outcomes for chronic illness in Dubai is fast becoming an urgent healthcare priority. From a clinical and financial point of view, there’s a pressing need for improved patient outcomes coupled with more efficient treatment and better value.
Innovations in at-home and smart-home healthcare have shown that a decentralised model for patient customisation can deliver high-quality, high-acuity care at scale. Across the industrialised world, from chronic vascular and cardiovascular conditions to diabetes and kidney function, patients are being successfully monitored and treated with high-tech devices via remote operations and command centres. This, in turn, reduces demand for hospital services through lower admission and readmission rates.
At the heart of these innovations, at-home chronic and acute care is inspiring growing confidence among patients and their families that health is safely treated and monitored from home 24/7, and some at-home care models register very high levels of patient satisfaction.
With at-home chronic and acute care successfully implemented in other parts of the world, is it time to rethink our approach to sustainable growth in the healthcare sector in Dubai for patients, providers and payers alike?
Chronic illness: why is it a priority?
On a global scale, chronic disease is the primary cause of morbidity and mortality. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures released in 2024, chronic illness, also known as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), killed over 43 million people in 2021. NCDs are heavily influenced by genetic and physiological factors, but also by environment, behaviour and socio-demographics.
In Dubai, western lifestyles and diets, coupled with a climate not conducive to physical activity and exercise, have led to increasing levels of obesity, leading to chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. According to the WHO, one-third of all deaths in the UAE are caused by cardiovascular disease. That may come as little surprise, considering that almost 20% of the population is clinically obese and 40% is classified as overweight.
The Dubai and Federal UAE governments have laid down strategies in recent years to improve the health of the population. For example, a National Policy for Promoting Healthy Lifestyles was introduced in 2022 to promote better health outcomes. But more immediately, chronic illness is putting extra pressure on insurance premiums and healthcare payers, with unsustainable annual increases in employer healthcare insurance premiums of around 15%.
How can at-home care improve chronic-illness treatment?
As healthcare systems worldwide move from analogue to digital platforms, the sector is successfully leveraging a range of technology, such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), to transform healthcare delivery. In short, it’s nothing less than a fundamental revolution in patient treatment.
Monitored physiological and biometric data allows clinicians to identify long-term trends in a patient’s condition and detect early signs of deterioration before they require hospital admission. After all, early intervention is key to achieving better patient outcomes.
Smart home healthcare devices, coupled with advanced command centres monitored 24/7 by clinicians, provide real-time physiological and biometric data to manage NCDs such as diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnoea and vascular disease. Wireless wearable and implantable devices make chronic and acute at-home care possible. Healthcare professionals can now monitor, manage and treat illnesses such as cardiovascular disease remotely, where timely intervention and treatment can be the difference between life and death.
With remote clinician access overseeing a patient’s health, these devices are already treating heart conditions at home with permanent pacemakers (PPM) to provide heart-monitoring and regulation; implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) for patients at risk of sudden heart failure; and cardiac resynchronisation defibrillators (CRTD), where heart-failure symptoms can be managed remotely to synchronise a patient’s pulse.
The ultimate goal: customised healthcare at scale
A wide range of international healthcare providers have shown how this can be done successfully. The key here is the ability to provide advanced home medical care at scale; many early pilot programmes without a robust and dependable network of partners found it hard to move from low-acuity to high-acuity care under a truly decentralised model.
Medically Home in the US, for example, has successfully decentralised the care model to provide value-based care services at scale that match and, in some cases, exceed the quality of high-acuity care available in traditional hospitals across 30 urban and rural markets in the US.
Elsewhere, John Hopkins Medicine International has introduced its own at-home acute-care solution, which is now achieving savings of around 20%-30% on the costs of typical in-patient hospital care. Its at-home service has reduced the average length of hospital stays and the number of diagnostic tests ordered.
In the UK, the state healthcare provider, the National Health Service (NHS), has partnered with private health consultancy Sanuis Health to reduce the cost of frequent hospitalisation. In fact, remote support for chronic conditions there has seen emergency hospitalisation drop by more than 50%, and has helped lower hospital stays by a similar margin.
Complex dynamics at play: the best way to handle them?
Industry collaboration across mutually beneficial networks will help deliver what is arguably in the interests of all healthcare stakeholders: accessible, patient-focused and sustainable healthcare that harnesses cutting-edge technology and drives down costs. Innovation in healthcare systems that combine technology with targeted and personalised care will deliver better outcomes and transform the healthcare experience. Gatekeeper services help insurers manage costs and efficiencies and allow employers to plan benefits more effectively and sustainably.
Coupled with optimised technology-driven diagnostics and generic medication, such a rethink of healthcare strategy has been shown to lower costs by up to 40% for employers and insurers alike. What’s more, these strategies lower hospital stays by up to 70% and, most importantly, deliver high-quality care to patients from the comfort of their homes with high levels of patient satisfaction.
Such an approach will allow for sustainable growth in the healthcare sector in Dubai as we move from the current challenges of an oversupplied healthcare sector to one that must respond effectively to anticipated population growth in Dubai via well-managed oversupply reduction. After all, some estimates put Dubai’s population at over 6 million by 2030, driven in part by incentives to attract immigration to help achieve the government’s Economic Agenda D33 to double Dubai’s economy by 2033.
Collaboration, innovation and personalisation: an efficient future awaits
Dubai needs consolidation in the healthcare sector, not further expansion. As it strives to meet the needs of patients, insurers and employers in equal measure, a revolution in healthcare delivery for chronic and acute needs will provide medium- to long-term sustainability for payers and healthcare organisations, as well as employers currently struggling to see true value amidst rising premiums.
To achieve the sector’s collective mission to create an accessible, sustainable and patient-focused healthcare model, innovation and collaboration must continue apace in the at-home space to better target improved outcomes. And with at-home care savings for insurers and employers of around 40%, there’s a strong incentive to establish the necessary networks to deliver those savings further afield.
It's nothing short of a radical rethink on strategy for the future of healthcare in Dubai and the Middle East.
