Philips nabs fifth major North American hospital deal in enterprise managed services effort

Royal Philips ($PHG), like many major medical device and imaging players, is looking to secure sizable long-term deals with hospitals. The idea is not only to secure future Philips revenues but also to cement a partnership that could result in more fruitful efforts at value-based healthcare, thereby meeting one of the most profound hospital needs.

Philips has done its fifth such deal with a North American institution; an 8-year, $36 million patient monitoring partnership with Medical University of South Carolina Health. Its efforts are core to its ongoing transition from an industrial conglomerate to a company solely focused on HealthTech, a combination of its medical and consumer businesses.

Philips CEO Frans van Houten

Under the deal, Philips will provide MUSC Health with patient monitoring technology, as well as implementation and asset management services. The idea is to enable the system to have standardized clinical practice based on defined monitoring configurations, as well as to enable integration and interoperability with other clinical IT systems. MUSC has four hospitals in Charleston, SC and more than 100 outreach sites.

Ultimately, this is expected to result in better collection and management of patient data--to offer improved diagnostics and treatment, as well as to reduce complications, adverse events, length of stay, and readmissions.

"We want to give our staff, learners, and patients access to the best patient monitoring technologies in order to deliver on the highest quality, safest, and most reliable healthcare through the use of Philips patient monitoring equipment across our entire enterprise," said MUSC Health CEO Dr. Patrick Cawley in a statement. "As one of the leading academic health centers in the country, whose value proposition is transforming expertise, learning and discovery into unrivaled patient-centered care in every setting, partnering with Philips will help us to meet our goal of delivering an exceptional patient care experience."

In the last year, Philips has signed hospital deals with North American partners including Westchester Medical Center Health Network for 15 years, Mackenzie Health for 18 years and Marin General Hospital for 15 years.

"Due to a growing aging population and the rising number of people with chronic diseases, healthcare providers are seeking more cost-effective ways to monitor, diagnose, and treat patients," said Philips CEO Frans van Houten. "As the healthcare industry is evolving, long-term, strategic partnerships are becoming the business model of choice, allowing health systems to address value-based models and keep pace with technology, while improving the patient experience."

- here is the release