Why Middle East Healthcare Needs a Clean-Core Transformation

According to a report, the Middle East healthcare sector was valued at $21.8 billion in 2024. Driven by government investment and growing patient demand for connected care, it is projected to reach $40.5 billion by 2033. While over 75% of public healthcare facilities in the GCC now use electronic healthcare records (EHR) in their routine operations, they face the challenges of siloed data, inefficient legacy systems, and a lack of interoperability. A clean-core transformation is necessary in this environment to deliver better results for patients and service providers.

Why Clean-Core?

A clean-core strategy – promoted primarily by SAP solutions for digital transformation – is a principle for keeping critical enterprise systems close to their standard design and avoiding unnecessary customizations that complicate integration and upgrades. This approach is particularly valuable in healthcare, where compliance norms constantly evolve and patient needs are diverse.

By keeping the core unchanged and moving specialized processes to a modular, interoperable system like SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), organizations in the Middle East can build more rational care models, scale IT capacity without destabilizing systems, and adopt emerging innovations seamlessly. They can also replace rigid, outdated legacy applications with new AI and IoT ecosystems to provide data-backed care while meeting regulatory requirements.

Middle East Healthcare Pain Points

As the healthcare sector in the region tries to accelerate digital adoption, the structural and operational challenges limiting its ability to realize transformation goals fully include:

1. Fragmented data storage: Many healthcare service providers still use multiple, isolated platforms to manage clinical, administrative, and financial data. This makes it difficult to get a unified view of patient accounts, staff records, and the organization’s performance metrics.
2. Regulatory demands: The growing emphasis on data privacy, quality benchmarks, and accreditation requires timely and accurate reporting. Manual processes and inconsistent data standards hinder such efforts.
3. Interoperability gaps: The information exchange between public and private healthcare bodies and even across departments within an organization is inconsistent, obstructing coordinated care.
4. Rising costs: On-premise systems, duplicate processes, and siloed workflows increase costs and reduce the net productivity of healthcare tasks.

To address these issues, healthcare enterprises in the Middle East need more than incremental fixes. They must pivot to unified, agile solutions that fuel innovation while ensuring compliance and efficiency.

Clean Core Transformation with SAP

In the Middle East, where growing populations, global care delivery methods, and stringent regulatory frameworks are reshaping the healthcare sector, SAP’s clean-core approach equips providers with a future-ready strategy. They can expand their services without complexities, remain aligned to national health initiatives, and safeguard patient information with robust governance.

Healthcare organizations can implement a clean-core strategy through the adaptable SAP S/4HANA that aims to minimize custom code modifications within the ERP system. By keeping their ERP core close to standard, service providers reduce the risk of disrupting well-defined extension points and the costs that spring from maintenance and upgrades. Without modifying the core ERP, they can leverage SAP BTP to extend their S/4HANA environment for agility and innovation.

The approach facilitates seamless AI and advanced analytics integration for IoT-enabled medical device monitoring, predictive care, and other actionable insights. Organizations benefit from SAP’s continuous technology development cycles and stay attuned to evolving industry best practices.

Business and Patient Outcomes

Ahead of modernizing IT, a clean-core transformation in the Middle East can comprehensively reshape how healthcare organizations serve their communities.

Key benefits include:

• Informed decision-making—The Availability of accurate, real-time data from clinical, financial, and administrative business units allows department heads to act precisely and foresee challenges before they escalate.
• Streamlined patient journeys – With cohesive touchpoints across appointments for consultations, treatments, follow-up care, and billing, organizations create a smooth and transparent experience for patients. The improved integration of ERP with EHR and telehealth platforms builds connected healthcare experiences.
• Resource optimization—A lean core system with cloud-based extensions and automated processes frees IT staff to focus on new value-add initiatives instead of managing complex customizations with rigid systems. It enhances productivity without sacrificing the quality of solutions.
• Speedy innovation cycles—SAP BTP becomes a platform to extend, integrate, and innovate on top of S/4HANA core. It helps healthcare enterprises rapidly pilot and scale new care models, digital services, and technology combinations without disrupting the core system.
• Resilient operations—Clean core’s built–in flexibility makes it simpler to adapt to shifts in demand, regulatory updates, and sudden public health crises with minimal disruption.
• Optimized trust – Effective data governance and security measures reinforce patient and stakeholder confidence in an organization’s commitment to safeguarding sensitive information.

The result of clean-core transformation is an operational foundation that supports both cost-effectiveness and clinical excellence. This empowers healthcare leaders to respond faster to change, deliver better patient experiences, and unlock greater returns from digital transformation investments.

Shaping Tomorrow’s Healthcare for the Middle East

The future of healthcare in any region depends on its ability to adapt – speedily, securely, and without roadblocks. A clean-core transformation is integral to achieving this goal and keeping pace with digitalization advances, regulations, and patient expectations.

With its YASHHealth Connect solutions, YASH Technologies provides the technology partnership that Middle East healthcare entities need for a clear pathway to patient-friendly, resilient services. To know how we help organizations deliver the care and stakeholder value that sets new global industry standards, please write to us at info@yash.com

• Digital Health Innovation
• SAP
• SAP BTP