Online Program

289315
Building systems to improve country-wide healthcare transitions: The Georgian health management information system (HMIS)


Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 3:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

Alexander Turdziladze, MA, Abt Associates, Inc. (USAID Health System Strengthening Project), Tbilisi 0119, Georgia
Ketevan Tatoshvili, MD, Abt Associates, Inc. (USAID Health System Strengthening Project), Tbilisi 0119, Georgia
Peter Cowley, MD, MPH, Abt Associates (USAID Health System Strengthening Project), Tbilisi 0119, Georgia
Like many developing countries, Georgia has traced a number of its health system challenges to information weaknesses, including a lack of reliable data and inadequate use of data in the planning, management, and consumption of health services. To address these gaps and increase the government's capacity to guide and monitor health reform, the USAID-funded Health System Strengthening Project worked with Georgia to develop a unified electronic health management information system (HMIS) that connects the government, the health service delivery and health insurance industries, the pharmaceutical industry, and the population through a number of user-friendly modules. The system was designed with flexible technologies that allow the modules to be easily modified to respond to stakeholders' changing priorities, such as the government's current transition to a universal health coverage model. The HMIS has helped to make the Georgian health system more transparent, efficient, and responsive by: enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions; streamlining business processes; establishing standards for reporting and real-time exchange of information; ensuring high levels of security and confidentiality of sensitive information; improving the administration, execution, and monitoring of health expenditures/financial transactions; and creating a strong foundation for the collection and analysis of health data. Public access is a particularly unique feature of the system. For example, patients can use the HMIS to find health providers and pharmacies according to criteria such as location, price, and availability. By empowering the population to make informed decisions about their health care options, the HMIS expands access to quality and affordable health services.

Learning Areas:

Communication and informatics
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
List the requirements for the design of an effective HMIS. Describe the effect of an HMIS on health policy formulation, performance and decision making. Identify features of the Georgian HMIS that may be appropriate for other developing country settings.

Keyword(s): Health Management Information Systems, Access to Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Deputy Chief of Party for the USAID Health System Strenghtening Project in Georgia and I have nearly 10 years of experience focusing on health management information systems, quality assurance, health care and health insurance administration, and performance based systems. I work on central purchaser payment issues, especially those surrounding the creation of diagnostic related groups (DRGs) and the smooth roll out of e-Health products.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.