Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Health Serv.

Sec. Implementation Science

Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1655759

This article is part of the Research TopicPerspectives and Opinions in Health Services, Volume IIView all 14 articles

A values-driven academic affiliation between a public medical school and a private healthcare provider: exploring the perceptions of key opinion leaders

Provisionally accepted
Leon  Du PreezLeon Du Preez1*Farah  OtakiFarah Otaki2*Timo  ClemensTimo Clemens2Suleiman  Al-HammadiSuleiman Al-Hammadi1Adrian  StanleyAdrian Stanley3Samuel  HoSamuel Ho1Paddy  KilianPaddy Kilian1Riad  BayoumiRiad Bayoumi1Mutairu  EzimokhaiMutairu Ezimokhai1Barry  BedfordBarry Bedford3Tarek  FatheyTarek Fathey4Reem  AlGurgReem AlGurg1Hanan  AlSuwaidiHanan AlSuwaidi1Amer  A. SharifAmer A. Sharif4Alawi  Alsheikh AliAlawi Alsheikh Ali1
  • 1Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • 2Universiteit Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • 3Mediclinic Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  • 4Dubai Health, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The overall purpose of this study is to explore the perception of key opinion leaders about the development of a values-driven affiliation between a public medical school and a private healthcare provider in the first integrated Academic Health System in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, namely: Dubai Health.The process of developing the respective affiliation is based on the principles of action research.It involved ongoing cycles of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. This study relied on a qualitative phenomenological research design, where 18 primary stakeholders were given the option of providing their feedback either in writing, using a tailor-made questionnaire, or in the form of a semi-structured interview.Constructivist epistemology constituted the basis of the entailed interpretive qualitative analysis, which followed the six-step analysis approach initially introduced by Braun and Clarke (2006).The qualitative analysis led, as per this study's conceptual framework: 'Public Private Affiliation Journey', to two interconnected themes, namely: Key Milestones and Driving Forces. Within Key Milestones, seven sequential categories were identified: Observing a triggering need, Finding a good match, Seizing the opportunity, Arriving at a common ground, Looking ahead, Venturing for the right reasons, and Reaping the benefits. Within the second theme: Driving Forces, the following three categories were identified: Aspiring for success, Leveraging human qualities, and Doing things the right way. This study showed that there is a latent potential in forming public private partnerships that can enable the formation and development of Academic Health Systems. It also showed how the guidelines of action research can be set as the basis of the process of partnership formation, and how following those guidelines in such an endeavor maximizes value for all. In addition, it clearly brought forth the importance of having a robust governance structure with committed and engaged leadership, and clear communication channels, and of equipping the physicians with the skills needed to be effective educators. Lastly, this study introduced the 'Public Private Affiliation Journey' conceptual framework, which can be deployed in 'federated' Academic Health Systems worldwide to increase the chances of success of public private partnerships and to maximize the value attained through them.

Keywords: Institute for Healthcare Improvement triple aim, Value-based health care, health system, Academic health system, Value-driven learning academic health system, Patient Care, Health Professions Education, Medical Education

Received: 28 Jun 2025; Accepted: 31 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Du Preez, Otaki, Clemens, Al-Hammadi, Stanley, Ho, Kilian, Bayoumi, Ezimokhai, Bedford, Fathey, AlGurg, AlSuwaidi, Sharif and Ali. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Leon Du Preez, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Farah Otaki, Universiteit Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.