Implementation of health information systems in Romania.

OBJECTIVES: The paper aimed to present and analyze the development of Healthcare Information Systems in Romania during the last decade. The first part was dedicated to the analysis of a large national project, HMIS--Healthcare Management Information System, and the second to the current state of the hospital information systems and primary care systems. METHODS: The approach of a "case study" was used. The description of the HMIS project comprised the objectives and its structure, implementation, results and lessons learned. This is followed by a classical short presentation of the current state at the hospital and primary care levels. RESULTS: The very modest results of the HMIS project were critically analyzed, listing the "failure factors" at various moments, both weak points of the project as well as the consequences of the structural-organizational changes within the Romanian healthcare system during the implementation. However, mainly positive results were registered in the last years at lower levels, hospitals and primary care, which can also partially be interpreted as "lesson learned". CONCLUSIONS: There are several things to be learned from the Romanian experience. Healthcare information system analysis is quite complex. Obtaining better results requires several additional measures including better education and training, adopting standards and appropriate quality assessment tools.

The Health Management Information System of Romania.

In Romania a Health Management Information System (HMIS) project is in progress. The project covers the main activities of the Ministry of Health (MoH), of the 42 District Health Authorities and more than 250 other health care units. The first applications will be implemented at the middle of 1999. The paper shows the context of the HMIS among other Health Information Systems in Romania, its main parts and some organizational issues of the HMIS project, achievements and difficulties encountered.

A new approach for assessment of IT programs in health care.

The efficiency of health care programs, on the level of a community, results not only from reducing hospitalization or drugs costs but also from the number of days of health and life gained. This gain can be estimated in monetary terms if we accept that, at least partially, the Gross Domestic Product results from the human activity. In the Center for Health Information and Statistics, Ministry of Health Bucharest. Romania, a methodology based on these premises was developed and non-officially used in assessment of several health programs. In this paper, the core of this methodology, as well as some applications are shown.