How to Develop Health Management Information Systems

Health management information systems (HMIS) provide the data needed by policy makers, clinicians and the consumers of health care services to improve the health of the population. HMIS monitor progress toward goals and promote improvement in health quality. Information systems provide individuals and communities with useful, timely data, as well as help increase accountability from health services providers. The goal of HMIS is a unified system at all levels that allows for cultural and national differences.

Instructions

• 1

  List the areas of information and the items in each you want to collect data for. Information about maternal and child health should include data such as the number of births, miscarriages, mother and neonatal deaths, and infection rates. Information about cardiovascular disease should include data such as the number and types of incidents in men and women of heart attacks and strokes, and the morbidity and mortality that resulted. HIV/AIDS infection and treatment rates by population segment and geographic area provide valuable information.

• 2

  Form a group of stakeholders, including policy makers, clinicians and relevant academics to review and modify the list of items to be collected. Invite people to serve from your hospital and community at the local level. At a national level, choose primarily on the basis of expertise rather than just geography. At local levels, you need the managers of health care organizations and facilities to participate, while at national levels, you need elected officials and directors of large funding sources.

• 3

  Prepare a detailed operational plan that describes what you intend to collect, where, how, how often, by whom and by what means the data will be processed and stored. Indicate what equipment and supplies you need, what personnel are necessary and their maintenance and supervision requirements. Prepare a detailed budget and timeline.

• 4

  Describe the impacts on the operations of the health setting you expect to collect data from. Recognize that a one-time collection of data has many different requirements than a process for ongoing collection. Consider using a representative sample of the total where feasible and useful. Prepare an employee training and follow-up plan if the HMIS is for a venue such as a hospital.

• 5

  Identify the obstacles you are likely to face and develop plans to overcome them. Working within a hospital, you may find individuals who resist or are indifferent to your data collection procedures. At a national level, political, cultural and economic considerations may be as important to success as the operational procedures.

• 6

  Design a process for examining the data and publishing it in useful ways. Prepare reports, press releases and articles for popular magazines and academic journals. Use the members of the committee you formed to help you distribute the data to decision makers who can use it to improve health decisions for communities and health care providers who can help individuals.