The government of a Middle Eastern state asked Parthenon to support the creation of a new funding system for provision of healthcare. The system had to meet the government's strategic vision of providing high-quality, accessible healthcare to all people living and working in the state and funded in a way that would be sustainable in the long term.

Over the course of 18 months, Parthenon provided the central project management capability, core research and analytical support to the client's project team, which in addition to our consultants included public relations and communications specialists, lawyers, actuaries, IT advisors and database architects. The Parthenon team:

• Recruited a panel of the world's leading healthcare economists to oversee the project
• Researched and visited more than 10 healthcare systems around the world understanding how each manages all aspects of funding and care provision
• Undertook a detailed economic analysis of the forecast cost of healthcare in the state and the economic impact of proposed changes
• Proposed a unique healthcare funding system involving partnerships between public and private sectors in both funding and care provision, which was approved by the government
• Piloted aspects of the proposed system to determine the likely implementation hurdles
• Worked with lawyers and government teams to design the required legislation and design and build enforcement mechanisms
• Created and delivered the implementation plan including design of the organisation and recruitment of the team to administer the system, design and procurement of the IT backbone, and management of the tendering process to outsource key elements of the system infrastructure.
• Supported one of the largest public consultation exercise ever undertaken by a Government in the Middle East, including town halls, individual meetings, written and web-based communications with key industry stakeholders and end-users across the state.

The first phase of the funding system went live in 2009, with patients being enrolled in the system. Parthenon will continue to support the implementation of the system as it is phased in.