Department of Health Introduces Hospital Management Information System

By Jacob Marcos

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) branch of the National Department of Health (NDoH) has introduced a Hospital Management Information System (HMIS).

 The GoPNG and NDoH have taken the lead in sponsoring the important project since its inception two years ago.

The HMIS which comes under the name “HealthNET” project is introduced to boost health clinical and administrative performances.

It is “designed to improve the quality and management of clinical care and hospital health care management in the areas of clinical process analysis and activity-based costing.”

 The aspiring John Mondo who is the brainchild of the technology has adapted the idea from his experience abroad.

 “Firstly, my study abroad including exposers to different international hospitals settings that fully embraced the use of information communication and technology (ICT) health care solutions is the most and primary motivating drive,” Mondo said.

The Kove guy who hails from Kandrian-Clusture District in the West New Britain is the ICT branch manager in the NDoH.

“I am challenged and always question myself, if ICT healthcare solutions can revolutionised other healthcare systems why not PNG? And I know we can do it and I am very passionate and would like to make it happen for our country’s public health care system, he said.

“My IT guys are really keen to mentor the important project that will see PNG health system going into technology,” Mondo said.

His second thought was to ensure that HMIS is one of the deliverables to be “delivered by 2020 and it is of course on of the six pillars of the ICT stated strategies accomplishing key recommended areas of the National Health Plan 2011-2020.”

 According to Mondo, the HMIS can improve quality of patient care by increasing the timeliness and accuracy of records and administrative information.

“HMIS provides simplified access to patient records and other administrative information for those who need it. It also sets a standard for patient care, making it more consistent across the board. In many cases, patients can also use the system to better educate themselves about their diseases and conditions as well as treatments and outcomes,” he said.

It was interesting to find out that the increased standardisation of hospital management information systems improves cost control by improving efficiency and productivity.

“Personnel costs and inventory levels can be reduced through the avoidance of duplications and repetitions. HMIS can also help eliminate confusion and delays that are caused by incomplete or missing records. These systems provide a managerial tool for decision making because they offer the functionality of assembling various types of data into usable reports. Data can be collected and categorized so that managers can analyse such information as patient lists, bed occupancy rates and statistics categorized by doctors,” Mondo said.

 The Hospital Information Systems are secured databases of administrative and patient information that can be easily accessed only by those who need the information. HMIS links departments without compromising the security of the information involved.

“For example, pathology, radiology and administrative offices each have access to the pieces of a patient’s information that are necessary to completing their individual job functions without allowing access to information that is not specifically relevant to that function,” Mondo said.

 “We have the skills and technology here in the country and we have already started it with the pilot projects in Mendi, Vanimo and Kundiawa General Hospitals,” Mondo said.

Mondo is pleased with the NDoH’s initiation and urges hospitals in the provinces to welcome the move and counter-fund the project with hardware infrastructures.

“If any province is willing to take the process on board and take ownership of it than we are here to make it happen for them,” Mondo said adding that his branch would proceed to Noga and Popodeta Provincial Hospitals upon their requests. 

By providing new and more efficient ways of accessing, communicating, and storing information, ICTs can help bridge our public health sector, between health professionals and the communities they serve and between the producers of health research and the practitioners who need it, Mondo said.