The Study on Improvement of Management Information Systems in Health Sector in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
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JAPAN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGENCY (JICA) MINISTRY OF HEALTH, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN THE STUDY ON IMPROVEMENT OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN HEALTH SECTOR IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FEBRUARY 2007 NATIONAL HEALTH INFORMATION RESOURCE CENTER HM SYSTEM SCIENCE CONSULTANTS INC. JR 06-46 Japan International Cooperation Agency Ministry of Health, Islamic Republic of Pakistan THE STUDY ON IMPROVEMENT OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN HEALTH SECTOR IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN NATIONAL ACTION PLAN February 2007 National Health Information Resource Center System Science Consultants Inc. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The National Action Plan for the Improvement of Health Information Systems in Pakistan Executive Summary The overall purpose of Health Information System (HIS) is to provide continuous information support to decision-making processes at each decision-making levels of the health system. Improving HIS in Pakistan is seen as an important investment towards improving the health care services. The guiding principle for the improvement of HIS in Pakistan is that the HIS should contribute to the continuous performance improvement of the health system in Pakistan with a vision of improving the overall health status of the population. After devolution in 2001, the districts are responsible for decision-making for health resource management and improving health services, particularly preventive, promotive and curative health services provided from primary and secondary level care facilities and outreach. A major objective of the management of the district health system is to improve its performance in order to contribute to the improvement of the health status of the population. Regular monitoring of the performance of health care services and their supporting sub-systems (e.g., logistics, financial, human resource management systems) is the first step in the performance improvement function of the district. No single data source can provide all the information required for planning and monitoring the health services. Nonetheless, information for ongoing health programs/activities is easier and more efficiently obtained through routine data collection, i.e. routine Health Information System (HIS). Therefore, improving routine HIS that caters mostly to the district’s management needs as well as related provincial/national information needs for policy, planning and monitoring has emerged as a priority for Pakistan. In addition to its responsibility to manage the district health system, the government is also responsible for managing the tertiary hospitals in the public sector. Though some of the tertiary hospitals in the public sector are semi-autonomous institutions, yet, Ministry of Health (MOH) or Provincial Health Department (PHD) is responsible for the overall management/financing and quality assurance of these institutions in their jurisdiction and there is a need for a uniform tertiary hospital information system (IS) and regular reporting to the government. Similarly, as a constitutional responsibility of protecting public interest and preventing harm to the population, government has a duty to oversee and ensure that the private health sector is providing quality care to the population. Information system to support that function of the government is a felt-need in Pakistan. The National Action Plan (NAP) for the improvement of HIS in Pakistan lays down the roadmap towards addressing the above stated needs. NAP takes into account technical, S - 1 organizational and behavioral factors that influence the performance of HIS and addresses the causes of low performance of HIS in terms of production of quality data (measured by the relevance, coverage, completeness, accuracy and timely availability of data) and continuous use of information generated by the HIS. The main causes of low performance of HIS, particularly Health Management Information System for First Care Level Facilities (HMIS- FLCF) in Pakistan were that the HMIS-FLCF design not meeting existing information needs and failed to self-evolve to meet changing needs. There were resources constraints, lack of Data Quality Assurance (DQA) mechanism, low capacity and motivation for HIS tasks and weak institutional mechanism for HIS tasks, including use of information for performance improvement. These resulted from inadequate or absent implementation framework and organizational support for HIS, lack of ownership and accountability of HIS at Provincial/District levels, weak linkages between information and planning, management and health system not being managed in performance-based (output oriented) manner. Thus, the overall goal of NAP is “to reform and create an enabling environment for the HISs in Pakistan to continuously evolve and improve to respond to the information needs of the health sector in Pakistan and thereby be able to contribute to achieving the vision of improving the overall health status of the population”. Given that the major thrust of the government is towards enhancement of district health system (providing primary and secondary care) and tertiary care (provided by tertiary hospitals) and protection of public interest through ensuring quality care provided by private health sector, that routine HIS caters to most of the health system’s performance monitoring and management information needs, and that the District Health Information System (DHIS) has been designed to that end for the district health system, the scope of NAP is deliberately kept confined to: 1. Implementation and continuous improvement of DHIS 2. Development, implementation and continuous improvement of Public Health Sector Tertiary Hospital Information System 3. Development, implementation and continuous improvement of Private Health Sector Information System Within the ambit of each of these three scopes, the major areas that the NAP addresses are: A. Formulation and implementation of strategic / administrative decision on routine HIS and related organizational issues B. Establishing leadership, coordination and management mechanisms at MOH, Provincial and District levels for routine HIS, including data management, DQA, data processing, analysis, interpretation, feedback and use for evidence-based decisions, and S - 2 establishment and improvement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support for HIS C. Mechanisms for development/continuous improvement and implementation/ expansion of HIS design. D. Mechanisms for provision of sustainable financial resources for HIS E. Mechanisms for HIS capacity building, including institutionalization of capacity building mechanisms It may be noted that DHIS was developed based on the existing HISs in Pakistan and as an outcome of a Development Study carried out between 2004-2006 in close coordination with and collaboration of MOH and PHDs by Study Team commissioned Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the “Study on the Improvement of Management Information Systems in Health Sector in Islamic Republic of Pakistan” under a Scope of Works signed between Government of Pakistan and Government of Japan (GOJ). The design of DHIS takes into account the situation analysis findings and the results of a series of extensive consultative meetings with national, provincial and district stakeholders. It was successfully pilot tested in 2006 in four districts of four provinces of Pakistan. DHIS is designed to ensure ownership and augment continuous use of information at all levels by strengthening of feedback loops within the districts and supporting problem identification and solving for performance improvement. DHIS caters to management needs of devolved district health system. It enhances coverage of FLCF, secondary hospitals, Vertical Programs (VPs), and HIS sub-systems, viz. logistics, financial, human resource, capital assets HISs for self-regulation and performance monitoring at facility/district/province levels. Improved data quality assurance (QA) procedures at all levels are in-built within the design. Also, there is flexibility in the design to evolve for accommodating future information needs. The designs of Tertiary Hospital Information System (TH-IS) and Private Health Sector Information System (PvtHS-IS) are still in the making. Nevertheless, there is consensus on the broad conceptual designs of these ISs. The overall objective of TH-IS is to provide information for management and performance improvement of the tertiary hospital and thus contribute to the improvement of quality of patient care services in the hospitals, improvement of planning and management of services and resources, meeting the information needs of public health importance, and improvement of performance monitoring and accountability through feedback. On the other hand, the primary objectives of the PrtHS-IS are to contribute to (1) improving quality of services through health regulation and accreditation, (2) disease surveillance, (3) mapping/ Database of private health providers for purposes of equity, helping private sector in identifying gaps and improving services, and awareness of the community about availability of services, and (4) improving management of Public-Private Partnership. Key areas of action are summarized into Table S-1 S - 3 Table S-1 Key areas of action Key Action Area Action Item Actions 1. Strategic/ 1. Decisions for introduction of DHIS in all districts 1. Constituting Provincial Working Group Administrative 1) Mandatory for all districts to implement DHIS for developing HIS Strategy