JOINT VENTURE
OptiMedis-COBIC UK
OptiMedis and COBIC Ltd from Great Britain founded a joint venture at the beginning of 2017 – OptiMedis-Cobic UK Ltd. The common goal is to implement population- centred, integrated models of care in the British National Health Service (NHS). In 2019, OptiMedis-COBIC UK, with our partners, received the renowned Health Service Journal Award 2019 for the best initiative to further develop the English healthcare system.
Better, More Efficient Healthcare
Our goal is to work with local communities and services, to improve health and quality of life, to improve people’s experiences of care, to reduce per capita costs, and to improve working lives for staff. Read more in our brochure.
Regional Healthcare Networks Drive Medical Care
OptiMedis-COBIC UK brings together the expertise and experience of two well established and pioneering companies, OptiMedis from Germany and COBIC Ltd from the UK.
OptiMedis-COBIC UK work with local health and care partners across the UK as they come together to take on responsibility for population and individual health in accountable care systems to provide advice, support and services at every stage of the journey from initial conception through to long term delivery. We particularly focus on the development and delivery of the ‘integrator’ function which is essential for the successful delivery of accountable care.
OptiMedis-COBIC UK, and its parent organisations, COBIC and OptiMedis are value-driven as are its partners.
Our sole mission is to get better outcomes for citizens, their families and their communities and better value for those that pay for care. We work with local health and care economies to develop, design and deliver well co-ordinated care that focuses on the outcomes that matter most to local people. We place a particular emphasis on prevention, population health management and the creation of healthy communities as part of a balanced system of care.
Although intensely practical, our work is data driven, evidence based and informed by use of our deep experience and understanding of the NHS and other international health and care systems. And, as the integrator responsible for the design and delivery of Gesundes Kinzigtal, we have over 15 years experience and a proven track record of delivering better health, lower cost per case and excellent citizen and staff experiences through a prevention orientated primary care led system of integrated care.
OptiMedis-COBIC UK and partners win prestigious award
The joint venture OptiMedis-COBIC together with the North-East London Commissioning Support Unit led consortium including Imperial College Health Partners, Social Finance and the consulting firm PPL has won the renowned Health Service Journal Award 2019 (HSJ Award) in the category “System leadership initiative of the year”. The basis was the adaptation of the OptiMedis model for population-oriented, integrated care in the Hampshire region. The HSJ Award is presented annually for excellence in healthcare.
Winner Consortium of the HSJ Award 2019 in the category “System leadership initiative of the year”. Photo: HSJ
Develop a Model to improve patient satisfaction
As part of the Hampshire System Integrator project OptiMedis-COBIC UK (in partnership with NEL, Imperial College Health Partnership, Social Finance and PPL) was commissioned to develop a Population Health Management model of Fareham and Gosport patients diagnosed with, or at risk of, type 2 Diabetes.
Challenge
- Enhance the quadruple aim of better health of the population; improve provider satisfaction; and improve patient experience along with a reduction in health system cost
- Extend the length of life by 1.4 years, achieve high levels of citizen satisfaction, reduce system costs by more than 7 per cent and solve recruitment and retention problems
Action
- Created project teams to make organisation do what was right and integrator team with expert knowledge in population health management
- Developed a Population Health Management (PHM) model to support patients diagnosed with/at risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)
- Established model enabled to re-design services using a System Integrator, establish partnerships, redesign health care services, manage population health and implement tailored solutions
Result
- Delivered a range of dashboards providing a snapshot/ timeline view of the patient cohort enabling GPs to interrogate the data to gain insights
- Recognised 1,058 patients most at risk of developing T2DM
- Resulted in a shared contract between stakeholders aligning incentives
- Distributed a system integrator implementation guide handbook enhancing knowledge on integrated PHM
Leadership team
Dr. Nicholas Hicks, FRCP FRCGP FFPH
Nick is a founder of COBIC and its Chief Executive and a Director of OptiMedis-COBIC UK. He was previously Director of Public Health and Chief Executive of NHS Milton Keynes. Nick’s career has included time as a practicing GP, as a public health consultant, PCT chief executive, and several attachments in the Department of Health, including to its strategy unit and as a policy advisor.
Nick has a degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and studied clinical medicine at the University of Oxford, qualifying as a Doctor in 1982 before training in general practice and public health. He has held clinical and academic posts in Bath, Bristol and Oxford and is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences, University of Oxford. He was awarded a Harkness Fellowship which he held at the Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California studying the measurement and improvement of quality and appropriateness of care.
From 1998 to 2002 he was seconded from the NHS to the Department of Health where he wrote the majority of the Coronary Heart Disease National Service Framework. As a founding member of the small ministerial Strategy Unit, worked closely with ministers on a wide range of issues including the NHS Plan. His areas of professional interest include the use of evidence in policy-making, outcome measurement, population health, coronary heart disease and health inequalities. Nick has been instrumental in developing the principles and practice of outcome based commissioning in the UK and in understanding the implications for providers. He regularly advises commissioners, providers and profession on both strategy and the practical actions they need to take to make the most of the opportunities created.
Prof. Dr. Oliver Gröne
Prof. Dr. Oliver Gröne, PhD MSc, is Vice Chair of the Board of OptiMedis and responsible for analytics, research & innovation and organisation. From September 2015 to January 2017, he was Head of Research & Development at OptiMedis. Oliver Gröne is Co-Founder and Director Population Health of OptiMedis-COBIC UK.
From 2011 to 2015, as Associate Professor of Health Services Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, he developed methods for assessing and improving the health care quality. Additionally, he worked for the World Health Organisation (regional office for Europe), most recently as head of the Quality of Health Systems program. He is a regular contributor to top-tier journals and was associate editor of the International Journal for Quality in Health Care from 2015-2020.
Oliver Gröne studied sociology at the University of Bielefeld and obtained a Master of Science in health sciences at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine as a DAAD scholarship holder. He did his doctoral thesis in the field of health sciences at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
partner
Our goal is to work with local communities and services, to improve health and quality of life, to improve people’s experiences of care, to reduce per capita costs, and to improve working lives for staff. Read more in our brochure.