Health Information Systems/Health Management Information Systems

Tag Archive for: Health Information Systems/Health Management Information Systems

National Framework for mHealth: Ethiopia

Ethiopia is at a pivotal moment in its efforts to improve the health status of its people and move the country into a new phase of social and economic development. The country’s massive Health Extension Program (HEP) program has placed over 34,000 community health workers in 14,000 health posts in less than 8 years. Now, health authorities are exploring ways to improve the program with mobile solutions.

Sponsored by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Vital Wave Consulting authored the “mHealth in Ethiopia: Strategies for a new Framework” report for the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. The report offers a framework for addressing specific information, communication and inventory management issues with mHealth interventions.

Download the report by clicking the link below – and let us know what you think in the comments!

Initiative:

Evidence Commons

Maternal Newborn mHealth

April 10, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

2012: The Year to Speech-enable Your Healthcare App and Give Mobile Clinicians a Voice

With continued growth in mobile device adoption across care teams, it is more important than ever for healthcare applications to support the needs of clinicians so mobility can be obtainable, process-driven and lead to rich collaboration. And with this comes the need for better data entry methods as mobile device adoption and clinical application usage increases in the medical community (it’s estimated that 85% of clinicians will own a smartphone by the end of 2012).

In an effort to support this trend, the Nuance Healthcare Development Platform, which offers secure, cloud-based, medical speech recognition services to healthcare ISVs and provider and payer organizations, was launched early last year. With this platform and its medical speech services, healthcare developers are able to voice-enable their apps using just a few lines of code.

To kick off 2012, Nuance Healthcare is challenging health care developers to give mobile clinicians a voice by speech-enabling their web-based and mobile apps using the Nuance Healthcare Development Platform—looking for the best implementation of speech recognition for the clinician on the go that enhances workflow and improves patient care.

The 2012 Mobile Clinician Voice Challenge opens Monday, January 2, 2012 at 9:00AM EST and closes Friday, February 3, 2012 at 5:00PM EST.

Watch a 60-second video describing the challenge at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4aGA7bmr7M

Take the challenge today and learn more at http://www.nuancehealthcare.com/2012mobilechallenge

January 4, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Public Health Informatics Certificate Training Program

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Public Health Informatics Certificate Training Program
Tuition Subsidies Available*

Application Deadline March 15, 2012

Public Health Workers in the Community Encouraged to Apply

Targeting public health professionals, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Nursing and the Public Health Data Standards Consortium (PHDSC), is pleased to announce that the Public Health Informatics Training Program is accepting applications. This program results in a Maryland State-approved Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Public Health Informatics.

The goal of the program is to offer training in methods and concepts of health informatics and health information technology for application to public health. It is designed for current and future public health professionals who wish to develop expertise or specialization in this area. Courses for this program are available completely online. Individuals residing in the Mid-Atlantic region may also take selected courses on site.

The training program focuses on the following core informatics topics:

Overview of public health and biomedical informatics
Health information systems design and development
Health information technology standards and systems interoperability
Systems evaluation in health sciences informatics
Population health informatics

Electives are available in: Knowledge Engineering and Decision Support; GIS; Real-Time Surveillance; and “eHealth and mHealth.” The program culminates with a practicum, working on an approved public health informatics project.

Tuition Funding

Qualified applicants are eligible for a $10,000 tuition subsidy via a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), US Department of Health and Human Services. This subsidy is available on a competitive basis and with receipt of the award, the total tuition and fees that the student or employer will be required to pay to complete the certificate requirements is approximately $9,200. The ONC sponsored scholarship program is especially interested in applicants currently working within US public health agencies who wish to re-tool to specialize in public health informatics.

* Only US citizens or verified permanent residents are eligible for the ONC tuition subsidy. Those awarded the subsidy must complete all certificate requirements within 12 months. Priority for the tuition subsidy will be given to professionals currently employed in the public health field within the US or those intending to enter the domestic public health field. The tuition subsidy is not intended for those already working on a full time basis in the public health informatics field. All tuition subsidy awards are subject to ONC approval.

Applicants not eligible for the ONC funding can expect to pay approximately $19,200 to complete the certificate program and are permitted up to 24 months
to complete the certificate courses.

Certificate Application Eligibility

The certificate in Public Health Informatics is open to both current degree candidates at the Bloomberg School of Public Health as well as those with no School affiliation working in the field of public health who are seeking to move into the informatics field. Credits earned in the certificate program may be applied towards other Johns Hopkins degree programs – such as the MPH or informatics MS – if accepted into a program at a later date.

Eligibility requirement for the certificate include either: 1) an earned graduate degree in public health; or 2) current enrollment in graduate public health degree program; or 3) a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 3 years of direct public health experience.

The next cycle of training will commence in late August of 2012. The application deadline for entry into this cohort is March 15, 2012.

More information about the Public Health Informatics Certificate Training Program, including application forms and detailed instructions, can be found at:
http://www.jhsph.edu/dept/hpm/certificates/informatics

If, after carefully reviewing the program web site, you have further questions, please contact Ms. Pamela Davis, the program coordinator at pdavis@jhsph.edu or 410-614-1580.

As part of the Johns Hopkins University-wide health informatics training, two other programs (also with subsidies funded by the ONC) are available for medical, nursing, information technology, software engineers, and clinical management professionals without public health experience. These other programs are hosted at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and School of Nursing. Information on these other programs for professionals without public health experience can be found at: http://www.jhu.edu/healthIT

Order:

December 22, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Inaugural meeting of the Technology Standards & Interoperability Working Group

The inaugural meeting of the mHealth Alliance’s Technology Standards & Interoperability Working Group was held on December 20th, 2011. There were 11 attendees representing varied groups including: donors, academics, implementers, clinicians and technology providers. A zip file is attached to this blog; it contains an audio recording of the meeting (with the chair’s thanks to Ricardo Leitao of Andago).

The (draft) mission of this new working group is to: Achieve alignment on and adoption of standards which support greater interoperability amongst mHealth deployments to ensure improved continuity of care, technology re-use, and cost effectiveness. The mHealth Alliance’s two key strategic focus areas for 2012 are: Evidence and Interoperability.This working group is intended to give effect to the latter.

There was helpful and insightful discussion regarding the ways both a “top down” and a “bottom up” approach can usefully inform the group’s activities — with examples given of each. As a “homework assignment”, group members will digest and comment on the two work items that are already posted to HUB, and will begin posting other artefacts (requirements docs, architecture diagrams, etc.) that provide informative examples from initiatives in the field. We will also start to catalogue a list of projects (especially open source examples, please) that illustrate “going to scale” with m/eHealth technologies in low resource settings.

I wish to thank the attendees for their active and helpful participation. I also hope that the audio recording will help others who were unable to make the scheduled time-slot to “join” and would welcome any and all comments (please post to this blog) they might like to add.

Our next meeting will be scheduled early in the new year. Between now and then, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and all the best in 2012!

-Derek Ritz

Initiative:

mHealth Systems Integration

December 22, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

AfriHealth Conference, Nairobi, 30 November – 1 December 2011

AITEC announces expert speaker line-up for AfriHealth Conference, Nairobi, 30 November – 1 December 2011

OPENING PLENARY

Consolidating the gains of technological innovation in healthcare through effective management

Professor Yunkap Kwankam, Executive Director, International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH), Switzerland

Aiming for a more integrated approach in healthcare delivery at national and local levels

Dr Katherine Getao, Head of eGovernment, Office of the President, Kenya

The economics of eHealth

Professor Maurice Mars, Head, Department of Telehealth, University of KwaZulu-Natal & President, South African Telemedicine Association

Ericsson’s mHealth Solutions – use cases and success criteria to enhance healthcare delivery

Rainer Herzog, Head of Strategy & Business Development mHealth & eHealth, Ericsson

mHealth: Turning hype into delivery

mHealth reaches puberty: Hype & hyperventilation

Bright Simons, Founder, mPedigree, Ghana

Using mobile telephony as an innovative communication channel for family planning

Bas Hoefman, Text to Change, Kenya

mHealth and the required ecosystem in East Africa

John Kieti, mLab, Kenya

PLENARY 2

An overview of latest worldwide trends in telemedicine

Frank Lievens, Board Member & Secretary, International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth, Belgium

Addressing the fragile environment of e-health in resource-limited settings

Dr Christoph Larsen, synaLinQ, Vietnam & Kenya

Accessing funding for healthcare initiatives in Africa

Ken Nwosu, eHealth Ontario & McMaster University MSc eHealth Programme, Canada

Pharmaceutical management

Anti-counterfeit systems for pharmaceuticals

David Svarrer, CEO, Digital Age Institute, Kenya

Using IT for improved pharmaceutical care delivery in developing countries: A case study of Benin

Dr Thierry Oscar Edoh,University of Bonn & German Federal Army University of Munich, Germany

Case Studies 2

A Multilingual Expert System for Ubiquitous Diseases Diagnosis (MESUDD)

Dr John Oladosu, Lecturer, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria

Community-based eHealth promotion for safe motherhood- A case study from Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan

Dr Shariq Khoja, Director AKDN eHealth Resource Centre, Aga Khan University, Kenya

Business models for effective service delivery: Rural Health Systems

Changing African healthcare through private sector technology innovations

Steve Landman, CEO, Carego International, Kenya & USA

Leveraging telehealth to improve child maternal health

Iboun Sylla, Business Development Manager, Texas Instruments, USA

National e-health policy development: The Commonwealth approach

Dr Sylvia Anie, Director, Social Transformation Programmes Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, UK, and Dr Adesina Iluyemi and Tom Jones^,Directors, TinTree International eHealth and Consultants, Commonwealth Secretariat, UK

PANEL DISCUSSION

What are the best practice achievements that can be replicated across the continent?

MODERATOR

Professor Yunkap Kwankam, Executive Director, International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH), Switzerland

PANEL MEMBERS

Lucy Fulgence Silas, Country Director for Tanzania, D-Tree International

Dr Moretlo Molefi, MD, Telemedicine Africa, South Africa

Dr Catherine Omaswa, Chairperson, National eHealth Committee, Uganda

Dr Wuleta Lemma, Director, Tulane Technical Assistant Program (TUTAP) Ethiopia

WORKSHOP 1

Open source healthcare information systems

Nurhizam Safie, United Nations University, International Institute of Global Health (UNU-IIGH), Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia

Open Source health information systems offer an alternative to proprietary healthcare information systems. Currently, most developing countries have a tight financial budget for their healthcare services and cannot afford the high cost of licence fees imposed by proprietary healthcare information system providers. Therefore, open source healthcare information systems are an attractive alternative to be introduced in the healthcare services of developing countries. By using open source healthcare information systems, the healthcare providers such as hospitals and clinics can improve the efficiency of services, reduce licensing and maintenance costs in managing information systems, as well as catering for future scaleability and growth.

Among the available open source healthcare information systems, MEDICAL has been chosen for this workshop because MEDICAL is a multi-user, highly scaleable and centralised system which provides the following functionality:

Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
Hospital Information System (HIS)
Health Information System

This workshop is intended for users who want to get a better introductory functional understanding of MEDICAL. The workshop offers a thorough knowledge in usability and understanding of two critical modules, namely Patient Management and Financial Management.

Objectives

Having attended this workshop, participants should be able to:

Understand the concept of open source health information systems.
Understand the functional concepts of MEDICAL modules, namely Patient Management and Financial Management.
Understand the development concepts and architecture of MEDICAL.
Workshop Content

Introduction to MEDICAL and Basic Settings

Introduction to MEDICAL: Vision and Mission
Architecture: Supported operating systems, databases & ERPs
The modular concept framework
The MEDICAL development environment.
Introduction to Sourceforge and SVN
Introduction to Transifex: The translation and localization portal

Patient Management

Patient registration
Emergency department /ambulatory
Outpatient/In-patient
Admission, discharge & transfer (ADT)
Appointment & scheduling
Resource scheduling
Medical record management
Report & statistics

Financial Management

Charging, billing & invoicing
General ledgers
Accounts receivable/payable
Cash book management
Reporting

WORKSHOP 2

Using theCasemix system for health finance management

Prof Dr Syed Aljunid, Professor of Health Economics and Senior Research Fellow, UN University International Institute for Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Malaysia

This workshop is designed to introduce participants to the Casemix system for enhancement in quality and efficiency of healthcare services . Casemix experts from the UN University International Institute for Global Health will share their experience in implementing Casemix systems in a number of developing countries globally. The workshop will provide an overview of Casemix, its evolution from the first version introduced in the 1980s by Professor Robert Fetter from Yale University, to the present day where the system has been implemented in more than one hundred countries worldwide. Minimum dataset requirements for Casemix systems will be discussed in detail, including requirements for diagnoses and procedures coding using the ICD classification system. Benefits of using Casemix as a prospective provider payment mechanism under social health insurance programmes will be presented in this workshop. Software currently available to support implementation of Casemix system will be demonstrated including the recently launched the UNU-CBG Casemix Grouper, a universal, dynamic and advanced grouper software. Proposed plan for implementation of Casemix system under the UNU-IIGH programme will be presented in this Workshop.

Workshop Objectives:

At the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:

Understand the concept of the Casemix system
Appreciate the role of Casemix in enhancing quality and efficiency of healthcare services.
Design the basic minimum dataset package for Casemix Implementation.
Have basic knowledge on the use of UNU-CBG Casemix Grouper

Workshop Content: