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

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.