Success Stories
- Last Updated on: April 20, 2005
|
Health Information System Broadens Opportunities for Quality Health Care in Albania
Data Collection Empowers Health Providers
Health Information System Broadens Opportunities for Quality Health Care in Albania
April 20, 2005 | Berat, Albania
Eight primary health care facilities in the Berat district of central Albania are addressing the administrative needs of their clinics and improving the quality of services they provide.
Over 20,000 Albanians are served in the health centers that operate within the framework of an integrated Primary Health Care (PHC) model developed through a USAID project.
Since 2001 the Primary Health Care Initiative focused on enhancing the delivery of health services, the gathering of health information, the improvement of quality, as well as the more efficient management of financial resources.
Dr. Donika Papa who has worked for the Muzakaj health center in Berat for over 27 years noted, “Collecting data impacts the way we are working and the way we manage the patients.”
The Health Information System (HIS) was developed as a system of accurate data gathering to report on deficiencies and respond to the needs of Albanians. For the first time healthcare workers routinely collect information on patients in a systematic way.
Every visit to clinics in the Berat region are recorded using a standardized encounter form and compiled at a central site for entry into a special software program developed by the project. The form, although simple, informs three levels of the health system; collecting data on patient demographics, clinic statistics, and health insurance measurements.
Since 2002, more than 100,000 encounters have been processed from the four original pilot sites. From the data, reports are generated and distributed monthly to all the pilot sites. Physicians are now making decision on how to better utilize their time and how to improve the quality of their services. They can see where they need more skills and where there are gaps in the system in terms of resources.
Since the fall of communism in 1991, the health sector in Albania has not been considered a priority for the government. Public expenditures on health are dramatically lower than those in neighboring countries. This has led to the rapid deterioration of the infrastructure and a weakening of the primary healthcare systems ability to respond to the new challenges facing the population. Incidence of TB, HIV/AIDS, and infectious diseases are gradually increasing.
Due to the training and implementation of the project, health care providers who lacked training in basic family medicine are updating their skills and expanding hteir expertise. Clinics in the region that had not collected data on the delivery of services, the costs, or on patients are now meeting monthly to discuss better management practices and future action plans. Facilities are no longer managed by decree, but respond to the needs of the clinics and the communities they serve.
According to Dr. Ajet Veleshnja, chief and general physician of the rural clinic in Lapardha for over 24 years, the impact of the reforms on the quality and scope of services has reinvigorated his practice; “I now have the ability to service patients who live over in the next village; there is no reason why they should have to travel to the city [Berat], I can help them at my clinic.”
On March 15, 2005, the Albanian Ministry of Health passed a health reform decree requiring the expansion of the Health Information System tested in Berat throughout the country. The Ministry obligated seven computers for placement in each of the twelve districts to facilitate the input of data collected from clinics using the USAID model health care coding. To assist the government in this effort, USAID is supporting the Pro Shendetit Project, a three year program aimed at strengthening the entire PHC system with a budget of $6.5 million.
