By Bradley Wilkinson Being a leader takes sustained effort. Being a leading organization takes sustained effort by a number of people. Being a leading health care provider takes sustained effort by a multidisciplinary team of specialists who have worked for years to get where they are. During those years, they faced a multitude of challenges and had to make a number of extremely difficult decisions. That is what expertise is built on—highly qualified professionals working diligently day in and day out making the tough calls while ensuring the future of the organization is assured by nurturing and developing the next generation. This is what Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (JHAH) has. Moreover, as the result of a joint venture agreement between Saudi Aramco, a leading fully integrated energy company, and Johns Hopkins Medicine International, a preeminent global health care system, JHAH has two world class entities fully committed to its success. The partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine will expand the capabilities of what was Saudi Aramco Medical Services Organization (SAMSO). It brings the benefit of being able to draw upon the expertise of Johns Hopkins Medicine and its entities, including The Johns Hopkins University and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. This provides world-class expertise in clinical program development, research, training, safety and quality and health care administration. Moreover, it allows JHAH to introduce new medical knowledge, health care delivery practices and strategies for population health management in ways that are tailored to the needs of the local region. Recently two new additions were made to the robust JHAH executive leadership:
John Ulatowski, M.D., Ph.D. M.B.A. Dr. Ulatowski has assumed the Chief Executive Officer (Acting) role after serving as a senior advisor for the past six months supporting JHAH in multiple areas including medical governance and leadership. Dr. Ulatowski, one of the world’s leading investigators into the regulatory mechanisms of cerebral blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain, serves as the vice president and executive medical director of Johns Hopkins Medicine International and professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, neurological surgery and neurology for the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “I am personally very excited by JHAH. It is a unique opportunity to bring together two world-class institutions that are both deeply invested in health care delivery and to take that opportunity to implement a model of health care: a population health model.” - Dr. John A. Ulatowski
Population Health Model The Population Health Model examines health care in two ways. It continues to focus on individual patient care in a traditional episodic model where a patient has symptoms, meets a physician and nurse as well as other health care professionals when warranted, receives treatment and has follow up as necessary. Moreover, in the Population Health Model you also look at an individual’s health care over time with a view to prevention and health maintenance and then consider individual care within a larger population so underlying health trends in that population are identified. This allows for medical care providers to develop national and regional programs to address these trends early in a proactive effort to minimize the impact on quality of life for that population while reducing overall health care costs. “The fact is that disease limits lifestyle. Working to stay healthy is the best way to avoid disease. However, after you are diagnosed with a disease, the earlier you get treatment the better will be your chance for an optimum outcome that is better for the patient,” says Ulatowski.
Daniele Rigamonti, M.D. Dr. Rigamonti has joined JHAH as its Chief of Staff. Dr. Rigamonti is the Salisbury Family Professor of neurosurgery, oncology, radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences, and radiology and radiological science. Prior to joining JHAH, Dr. Rigamonti spent more than 20 years with Johns Hopkins, having served as director of the Department of Neurosurgery’s cerebrovascular division, stereotactic radiosurgery, hydrocephalus and pseudotumor cerebri programs. “Saudi Aramco has demonstrated over the years a commitment to the health of its employees and their families. In other words the frame of mind to provide the best possible care exists; we don’t have to convince the company that JHAH serves. That combined with the fact that the physicians here at JHAH are well trained and are recognized as being among the best in the country makes this an exciting and unique opportunity. One issue that we are addressing is the issue of access to care. Patients simply have trouble getting appointments. The quality of patient care at JHAH is very high. We need to look at efficiencies. We need to see where the bottlenecks are and then work to remove the bottlenecks.” - Dr. Daniele Rigamonti Collectively the Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare leadership represent hundreds of years of diverse health care experience. The thousands of health care providers currently working at JHAH represent tens of thousands more. It is their experience and expertise combined with commitment that make Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare what it is today but more importantly what it will be tomorrow.
