International Win: Perot Scores Health-Care Contract In Jordan

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is preparing to pilot an open-source clinical and health-care information management system, and it has awarded the contract to a familiar face in U.S. and international health-care IT: Perot Systems (No. 35 on the 2008 VARBusiness 500 list).

The goal of Jordan's King Abdullah II, according to a Perot press release, is to continue building on Jordan's reputation for having one of the best health-care standards in the Middle East, as well as continue to invest in the country's increasingly more-robust IT sector. E-Health Solutions, a nonprofit Jordanian company selected by the government to spearhead the project, chose Perot on the strength of its international reputation in health-care IT.

"Perot Systems' reputation as the leading health-care technology solution provider is very strong in the United States," said Dr. Rami Farraj, chairperson of the board of directors of E-Health Solutions, in a statement. "When we were looking to initiate this project, we were first and foremost looking for a company that has the resources and capabilities to handle a national rollout of this project and become our partner. Perot Systems is that company."

The chosen deployment, according to Perot, will be the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), currently the electronic health record (EHR) choice for 157 VA health-care facilities and 997 clinics under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VistA is an open-source system that among other functions will help the three chosen locations for the pilot program—two hospitals and a clinic in Jordan's capital, Amman—digitize information, track health-care patterns, protocols and diseases, and compile real and live clinical data for disease research across the Middle East.

"We are very excited to be involved in this ground-breaking project with the Jordanians," said Dr. Kevin Fickenscher, executive vice president and managing director of Perot's international health-care group.