NHS Arden & Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (Arden & GEM) has been appointed to provide business intelligence, claims management and data management services for NHS Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in a new two-year contract.

The contract covers the provision of data warehousing, business intelligence platforms, commissioning and primary care dashboards, national benchmarking, and claims management.

It also includes enhanced capabilities for commissioning end-to-end pathways, and risk stratification techniques for population health initiatives that can identify the needs of patients or groups of patients.

The contract, which commenced on 12 December 2019, carries an estimated value of £1.4m and will run for two years, with an option to extend for a further year.

Elke Taylor, acting chief finance officer for Herts Valleys CCG, said: “The service forms a key building block to the CCG’s approach to population health management. This approach supports the local health and care system’s strategic priorities of helping people stay healthy, improving the quality of care, providing more care closer to people’s homes, improving clinical results and ensuring services are sustainable for the future.”

The appointment of the contract follows a tender process run via NHS England’s Health Systems Support Framework, and will see Arden & GEM support the CCG in meeting its ambition to deliver “high-quality, joined-up and easy to access” healthcare services to 638,000 citizens.

In 2017, the CSU was awarded a £32m, four-year contract to provide services to five CCGs across Norfolk and Waveney.

John Parkes, managing director at Arden & GEM said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by Herts Valleys CCG to work alongside them, bringing our business intelligence expertise, knowledge and best practice to this locally tailored service.

“With a track record of delivering data management services for neighbouring CCGs within the Hertfordshire and West Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), we are well placed to provide strategic advice and support to the CCG and STP, both in meeting their priorities and transitioning to an integrated care system.”