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Electronic health Information Systems (HIS) are fundamental in managing health information at all levels. This include information to facilitate and support patient care, disease surveillance, and monitoring health service delivery. Often, different applications are used and therefore it is necessary to combine data from different systems for analysis to get a complete picture of an individuals’ health or to conduct monitoring and evaluation. Ensuring that applications managing health information at the patient and/or aggregate level are interoperable (e.g., have the ability to exchange data between disparate health information systems) will facilitate complex, rigorous analyses. In addition to ensuring interoperability between systems, there is the need to safe guard meaning of data as it is combined with data from other systems.
Interoperability for indicator data reporting
These documents were developed as a step-by-step guide on how to set up and configure electronic indicator data reporting from electronic medical records systems (EMR) to indicator/aggregate data system. Most of this work was focused on electronic systems that are currently used in resource-constrained environments, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, to support The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative.
We initiated a laboratory-controlled feasibility study1 to demonstrate electronic indicator data reporting from OpenMRS (an open source EMR) to DHIS 2 (an aggregate data system). After the success of indicator data exchange, we documented a step by step process that can be followed to achieve electronic indicator data reporting. We also conducted a field test on indicator data reporting from a heath facility EMR to a simulated ministry of health DHIS 2 instance with the goal of examining the impact of adopting interoperability on human resources, reporting workflow and data quality at the facility.
This was followed by another laboratory-controlled feasibility study to demonstrate electronic indicator data reporting from IQCare (another open source electronic medical records system used in resource-constrained environments) to DHIS 2.
From these two feasibility studies, we created guide documents with the goal of sharing them with people, groups or organizations who can use them to implement interoperability for indicator data reporting using these systems. The guides we developed can be accessed here:
Data exchange
Automated indicator reporting
Case-based surveillance
Audience
- EMR application developers
- EMR application implementers
- Data managers
- Program managers
- Surveillance officers
- Public Health agencies
- Ministries of health
As you use the documents to test or implement interoperability for indicator data reporting, feel free to email us your questions, feedback and suggestions on:
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