A New Era of National Guideline Development in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 project was launched in 2016 as a strategy for economic development and national growth, with 11 Vision Realization Programs put in charge of its implementation. The backbone of its Transformation Program for the Health Sector has been the definition of a new Model of Care aiming to deliver 42 coordinated interventions across 6 Systems of Care, with the development of clinical guidelines identified as a key cross-cutting intervention to foster the use of national, evidence-based practices across KSA, reduce care variation, and promote accountable care. This article provides an overview of the history, progress to date, and future outlook of the recently initiated National Guidelines Center in Saudi Arabia, established in collaboration between the Health Holding Company and the Saudi Health Council represented by its National Center for Evidence-based Medicine. The lessons learnt from previous guideline initiatives are grouped under the Center’s design principles of high quality, relevance, practical implementation, and sustainability. Aspects setting the project apart from previous endeavors have been its focus on extensive engagement with key stakeholders in the Saudi guideline ecosystem, the co-development of evidence-based recommendations with aligned key performance measures, and the implementation of guideline recommendations in the clinical workflow via integrated electronic order sets. Nine activity streams aim to enable the Center to take its place among the leading regional and global guideline developing organizations and to optimally support clinicians and patients, Saudi Arabia’s health sector transformation, and the work of guideline communities worldwide.