Assessment of Stakeholder Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Health Data Governance Principles in Botswana: Web-Based Survey.

BACKGROUND: The use of information and communication technologies for health-eHealth-is described as having potential to improve the quality of health care service delivery. Consequently, there is an increased global trend toward adoption of eHealth interventions by health care systems worldwide. Despite the proliferation of eHealth solutions, many health care institutions especially in transitioning countries are struggling to attain effective data governance approaches. The Ministry of Health in Botswana is an exemplar institution continually seeking better approaches to strengthen health data governance (HDG) approaches following the adoption of eHealth solutions. Recognizing the need for a global HDG framework, the Transform Health coalition conceptualized HDG principles that are structured around 3 interconnected objectives: protecting people, promoting the value of health, and prioritizing equity. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to solicit and evaluate perceptions and attitudes of health sector workers in Botswana toward the HDG principles by Transform Health and derive any future guidance. METHODS: Purposive sampling was used to select participants. A total of 23 participants from various health care organizations in Botswana completed a web-based survey and 10 participated in a follow-up remote round-table discussion. The aim of the round-table discussion was to gain further insight into participants' responses from the web-based survey. Participants were from the following health care cadres: nurses, doctors, information technology professionals, and health informaticians. Both validity and reliability testing were performed for the survey tool before sharing it with study participants. An analysis of participants' close-ended responses from the survey was performed using descriptive statistics. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses from the questionnaire and the round-table discussion was achieved using the Delve software and the widely accepted principles of thematic analysis. RESULTS: Although some participants highlighted having measures in place similar to the HDG principles, there were some who either did not know or disagreed that their organizations already had in place mechanisms similar to the proposed HDG principles. Participants further expressed relevance and importance of the HDG principles in the context of Botswana. However, some modifications to the principles were also suggested. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the necessity of data governance in health care particularly toward meeting the requirements for Universal Health Coverage. The existence of other health data governance frameworks calls for a critical analysis to assess the most appropriate and applicable framework in the context of Botswana and similar transitioning countries. An organization-centered approach may be most appropriate, as well as strengthening of existing organizations' HDG practices with the Transform Health principles.

Developing and implementing national health identifiers in resource limited countries: why, what, who, when and how?

Many resource-limited countries are scaling up health services and health-information systems (HISs). The HIV Cascade framework aims to link treatment services and programs to improve outcomes and impact. It has been adapted to HIV prevention services, other infectious and non-communicable diseases, and programs for specific populations. Where successful, it links the use of health services by individuals across different disease categories, time and space. This allows for the development of longitudinal health records for individuals and de-identified individual level information is used to monitor and evaluate the use, cost, outcome and impact of health services. Contemporary digital technology enables countries to develop and implement integrated HIS to support person centred services, a major aim of the Sustainable Development Goals. The key to link the diverse sources of information together is a national health identifier (NHID). In a country with robust civil protections, this should be given at birth, be unique to the individual, linked to vital registration services and recorded every time that an individual uses health services anywhere in the country: it is more than just a number as it is part of a wider system. Many countries would benefit from practical guidance on developing and implementing NHIDs. Organizations such as ASTM and ISO, describe the technical requirements for the NHID system, but few countries have received little practical guidance. A WHO/UNAIDS stake-holders workshop was held in Geneva, Switzerland in July 2016, to provide a 'road map' for countries and included policy-makers, information and healthcare professionals, and members of civil society. As part of any NHID system, countries need to strengthen and secure the protection of personal health information. While often the technology is available, the solution is not just technical. It requires political will and collaboration among all stakeholders to be successful.

A national standards-based assessment on functionality of electronic medical records systems used in Kenyan public-Sector health facilities.

BACKGROUND: Variations in the functionality, content and form of electronic medical record systems (EMRs) challenge national roll-out of these systems as part of a national strategy to monitor HIV response. To enforce the EMRs minimum requirements for delivery of quality HIV services, the Kenya Ministry of Health (MoH) developed EMRs standards and guidelines. The standards guided the recommendation of EMRs that met a preset threshold for national roll-out. METHODS: Using a standards-based checklist, six review teams formed by the MoH EMRs Technical Working Group rated a total of 17 unique EMRs in 28 heath facilities selected by individual owners for their optimal EMR implementation. EMRs with an aggregate score of ≥60% against checklist criteria were identified by the MoH as suitable for upgrading and rollout to Kenyan public health facilities. RESULTS: In Kenya, existing EMRs scored highly in health information and reporting (mean score=71.8%), followed by security, system features, core clinical information, and order entry criteria (mean score=58.1%-55.9%), and lowest against clinical decision support (mean score=17.6%) and interoperability criteria (mean score=14.3%). Four EMRs met the 60.0% threshold: OpenMRS, IQ-Care, C-PAD and Funsoft. On the basis of the review, the MoH provided EMRs upgrade plans to owners of all the 17 systems reviewed. CONCLUSION: The standards-based review in Kenya represents an effort to determine level of conformance to the EMRs standards and prioritize EMRs for enhancement and rollout. The results support concentrated use of resources towards development of the four recommended EMRs. Further review should be conducted to determine the effect of the EMR-specific upgrade plans on the other 13 EMRs that participated in the review exercise.

Developing a National-Level Concept Dictionary for EHR Implementations in Kenya.

The increasing adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) by developing countries comes with the need to develop common terminology standards to assure semantic interoperability. In Kenya, where the Ministry of Health has rolled out an EHR at 646 sites, several challenges have emerged including variable dictionaries across implementations, inability to easily share data across systems, lack of expertise in dictionary management, lack of central coordination and custody of a terminology service, inadequately defined policies and processes, insufficient infrastructure, among others. A Concept Working Group was constituted to address these challenges. The country settled on a common Kenya data dictionary, initially derived as a subset of the Columbia International eHealth Laboratory (CIEL)/Millennium Villages Project (MVP) dictionary. The initial dictionary scope largely focuses on clinical needs. Processes and policies around dictionary management are being guided by the framework developed by Bakhshi-Raiez et al. Technical and infrastructure-based approaches are also underway to streamline workflow for dictionary management and distribution across implementations. Kenya's approach on comprehensive common dictionary can serve as a model for other countries in similar settings.