New York-based Mount Sinai Health System announced on Friday what it is calling a "historic agreement" with Taikang Healthcare in China to provide clinical and management knowledge transfer services.
Under the agreement, Mount Sinai will also provide education and training programs for Taikang’s Xianlin Drum Tower Hospital in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province in east-central China. Officials said Mount Sinai will also provide guidance in implementing medical care delivery standards, as well as developing clinical centers of excellence and best practices in hospital management.
“Our mission is to enable our international partners to raise the standards of healthcare delivery in their communities by leveraging Mount Sinai’s repository of medical knowledge, cutting-edge clinical innovations, and educational resources,” said Arthur Klein, M.D., president of Mount Sinai Health Network, in a statement.
The terms of the deal were not released. But as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, U.S. hospitals are increasingly seeking opportunities in international markets, particularly in the world's second-largest economy, to increase the reach and depth of their brands. Last year, the Cleveland Clinic signed a management consulting agreement with an entity that plans to open a hospital in Shanghai. UCLA Health and Stanford University Medical Center have looked at the potential for consulting and training providers in Asia and the Middle East, partly in response to the number of foreign patients who come to the U.S. to seek care. Johns Hopkins, UPMC and Mayo Clinic have pursued similar strategies.
RELATED: The Cleveland Clinic joins other providers eyeing affiliate agreements in China
Taikang Healthcare is a wholly owned subsidiary of Taikang Insurance Group, which has been expanding its healthcare footprint in recent years including investments in retirement care in China. (It has other interests as well, notably acquiring a major stake in New York auction house Sotheby's in 2016.)
Taikang acquired its stake in Taikang’s Xianlin Drum Tower Hospital and reportedly entered into an agreement to buy a $1 billion stake in U.S.-based NorthStar Realty Finance's healthcare portfolio in 2015. Taikang also picked up a nearly 30% stake that same year with IHH Healthcare's China portfolio of primary care clinics and greenfield hospital projects in 2015, breaking ground on a new $200 million hospital with IHH Healthcare in Shanghai New Hongqiao International Medical Center last year, according to The Business Times.
RELATED: Steward Health Care goes international, partners with Malta's government to operate hospitals