Philips and Phoenix Children’s Sign 15-Year Technology Partnership

Royal Philips, the Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based health technology company, has entered into a 15-year, $65 million agreement to provide advanced medical technologies, patient monitoring and clinical informatics to Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

According to Philips, Phoenix Children’s is the first stand-alone children’s health system to sign a long-term, strategic partnership model with the technology company. Phoenix Children's provides inpatient, outpatient, trauma, emergency and urgent care in 75 pediatric specialties for patients in Arizona and throughout the Southwest.

Back in January, Philips announced it had entered a multi-year, strategic partnership with Phoenix-based Banner Health to use technology to improve and expand on the health system’s telehealth and population health management efforts.

The partnership develops from a leading collaboration in diagnostic imaging to expand the Phoenix Children’s programs. Through the partnership, Phoenix Children’s will have access to Philips’ advanced medical technologies like imaging systems in CT, MRI and angiography, patient monitoring, clinical informatics, as well as clinical and business consulting services. 

“Philips technology provides sophistication in patient diagnosis and strategic foresight that improves the solutions and care our teams deliver,” Richard Towbin, M.D., division chief of pediatric radiology at Phoenix Children’s, said in a prepared statement. “Together, Phoenix Children’s and Philips developed technologies such as dose reduction using iterative CT reconstructions and pediatric MRI protocols that are now factory standards worldwide. We also have an advanced 3D print laboratory that constructs life-size models of patients’ hearts and other organs, illustrates exact tumor size, and uses post-processing software to study heart and brain physiology using MRI and CT.”

Brent Shafer, CEO of Philips North America, said in a statement, “Phoenix Children’s has helped us to take our innovations in diagnostic imaging to the next level and we look forward to working with them to do the same in the areas of patient care monitoring and informatics, exploring how to apply machine learning and accelerating the transformation of pediatric care.”

“Phoenix Children’s values working with partners who understand treating children is more complex, and this population shouldn’t simply be categorized as ‘little adults’,” David Higginson, chief administrative officer at Phoenix Children’s, said. “Philips understands the long-term value of investing in pediatric care, even though it is a relatively small subset of the healthcare market, and is willing to invest time and research into the unique needs of pediatric care, which makes us confident in this partnership.”