For this week’s blog post, we sat down with Harriet Martyn, Director of International Business Development at Johns Hopkins HealthCare Solutions, to talk about being shortlisted along with Graphnet Health and Frimley ICS for a Health Service Journal (HSJ) Partnership Award in the United Kingdom.

Harriet, can you tell us a bit about this award?

Yes of course! We were so thrilled to have been shortlisted along with Frimley ICS and Graphnet Health in the category of Most Effective Contribution to Clinical Redesign at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2025 in the UK.

The HSJ Partnerships Awards are among the most prestigious health care awards in the UK, recognizing excellence in innovation and patient care. The category ‘Most Effective Contribution to Clinical Redesign’ celebrates projects which improve clinical pathways and outcomes.

From its foundations by a primary care doctor over 30 years ago, the Johns Hopkins ACG® System’s core principles have always focused on patient-centred approaches and whole person needs, so we’re really pleased to have been recognized along with our partners.

We’ve been shortlisted for a project with Frimley ICS — who have developed a leading population health intelligence capability that builds upon a mature shared care record programme that is supported by Graphnet. The solution incorporates the ACG System as its population risk stratification and segmentation tool.

The team at Frimley ICS were looking for ways to segment its population to better manage planned and unplanned care and — by applying the ACG System’s Patient Need Groups (PNG) segmentation model –— they were able to redesign clinical pathways to achieve this.

Why did you want to enter this award?

We wanted to put the project forward for this award as we felt it addresses the mounting challenges facing the NHS today, including serving an aging population, increasing pressures on clinical capacity and rising urgent care demand. This project aligns with the key principles outlined in the Darzi Report — preventive health care, digital transformation and community-based care — and has also driven meaningful clinical redesign. We wanted to showcase the diverse expertise in integrating technology, data intelligence and clinical insights that our partnership with Graphnet and Frimley ICS delivers and we feel the project has delivered an innovative, scalable solution with measurable impact for patients and clinicians.

What do you think is important about collaboration and partnership in digital health care?

Effective collaboration in digital health care is all about bringing together a range of expertise to drive meaningful transformation. In this case Frimley ICS, Graphnet and our team each contribute unique strengths, which include integrated data layers and clinical insights.

The project used our population health analytics tool — the ACG System, which has a globally validated, evidence-based approach to patient segmentation and risk stratification — and is integrated into Frimley’s population health intelligence and Graphnet’s shared care record programme. This enables seamless integration of multi-source data, which in turn offers a comprehensive, real-time view of patient needs.

By applying our PNG segmentation model and segmenting the population into groups based on health care utilization and clinical needs, this collaboration enabled targeted interventions, early risk identification and optimized resource allocation.

Crucially, this partnership demonstrated that scalable, adaptable and evidence-based solutions can drive sustainable transformation across NHS systems. With clinically led, intelligence-driven change, we can achieve greater efficiency, cost savings and improved patient outcomes.

Why do you think we need clinical redesign in today’s health care market?

There are increased pressures on clinical services to maintain quality and increase equitable access, while reducing wait times and ensuring patients receive the right care based on their needs. This makes the shift towards preventive and proactive care as outlined in the Darzi Report and the recent NHS operating plan paramount.

To achieve this, clinical pathways will need to be reviewed, optimized and redesigned, using a data-driven and clinically-informed approach. The starting point should be understanding the population’s health needs and what is driving their utilization of different services. With that foundational intelligence, additional insights can be overlayed, including patient and clinician feedback, to inform service redesign for an improved patient experience and clinical outcomes.

Tell us a bit more about how clinically validated segmentation can help address health care challenges? 

We have many customers who use the ACG System in the UK and worldwide to segment their patient populations — it’s such a powerful tool in population health analytics. It enables health care organizations to better understand how patterns of disease and health conditions are distributed across a population and what is driving that utilization.

By segmenting the population, health systems can develop meaningful, clinically coherent groups of people with similar needs, to allow for more targeted interventions — ultimately improving care quality, health outcomes and cost efficiency. Unlike broad, overlapping segmentation methods that can lead to fragmented insights, a structured, hierarchical approach ensures that each individual belongs to a distinct group based on primary health care needs. This clarity allows for more precise care management strategies, reducing redundancy and ensuring resources are directed where they will have the greatest impact.

Can you give us some examples of how ACG System customers have made changes via clinical redesign that have positively impacted patient outcomes?

The ACG System can deliver data intelligence that, combined with clinical insights, can inform service provision that helps improve outcomes for both patients and health care providers by ensuring care is delivered efficiently and effectively. Patients with complex needs get timely access to the right specialists at the right time, leading to better health management and fewer complications. For example, a patient requiring a medication review may be seen directly by a specialist nurse rather than going through multiple appointments, reducing delays.

For health care staff, clearer roles and better triaging help manage workloads more effectively. By directing patients to the most appropriate care provider, the system reduces pressure on clinicians, allowing them to focus on more complex cases while ensuring all patients receive timely and appropriate care.

You can read more detail about patient segmentation in practice here.

Sounds great – good luck!

Thanks so much! We’re really looking forward to attending the awards ceremony on 20^th March in London. Good luck to everyone who is shortlisted!