Break-out Session I.2: Academia experience - openIMIS as a teaching tool, Nepal

Type of contribution: 45 min break-out session

(Full) session title: Academia Experience: openIMIS as a Teaching Tool in Nepal

Moderator: Pratima Rai, GIZ Nepal

Presenters:

Dr. Rabindra Bista, Professor/ Founder of Health Informatics Program, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University (openIMIS-AeHIN Nepal Hub Focal Point)
Dr. Aman Shakya, Assistant Professor/ Program Coordinator, M.Sc. in Computer Engineering Specialization in Data Science & Analytics, Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University (On behalf of openIMIS-AeHIN Nepal Hub Focal Point Dr. Basanta Joshi)
Hack4UHC 2026 Hackathon Winner: Team ClaimØ (Laxman Acharya, Aman Karn, Shuvam Pandey, Piyush Bhatt)

Note-Taker (Documentation):

Aditi Manandhar, GIZ Nepal

Description:

The session will highlight the application of openIMIS in the academic sector in Nepal. Particularly, it will showcase the activities of Kathmandu University and Tribhuvan University as part of the openIMIS-AeHIN regional knowledge hub in incorporating the open source system in course development, implementation, and student engagement in the country. The session will also provide an opportunity for the winner/s of Hack4UHC 2026 to share their experience in building open-source solutions for openIMIS use cases in Nepal’s Health Insurance Board (HIB) and Social Security Fund (SSF).

Full session brief:

openIMIS in Master's in Health Informatics Program, Kathmandu University: A Curriculum on Digital Health Financing. The presentation will provide a deep dive into the development and implementation of HIMS 525: Course on Healthcare Financing and Economics. The course centers on the institutional, operational, and digital components that support insurance-based financing where Health Informatics Master’s students are introduced to key concepts such as enrollment, provider payment mechanisms, claims processing, strategic purchasing, risk pooling, and governance structures. The course emphasizes how modern health financing relies on robust digital platforms to ensure transparency, operational efficiency, and evidence-based decision-making. A central pillar of the course is the practical application of openIMIS, currently being integrated by the HIB of Nepal as part of Nepal’s national health financing reforms.

Interoperability lab at IoE, Tribhuvan University. The presentation will introduce the university-based Interoperability Lab, a sub-cluster under the Lab Cluster – Big Data, Interoperability, and Computing within the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Pulchowk Campus with approval from the Head of Department on March 1^st 2025. The lab aimed to address key challenges in Nepal’s digital health ecosystem by strengthening collaboration between academia, healthcare institutions, and government bodies, while also contributing to the growth of the openIMIS community in Nepal. Among the activities conducted by the lab included various capacity building sessions for the student lab members in collaboration with external partners.

Hack4UHC Hackathon Solution. With the recently concluded hackathon themed “Digital Innovation for openIMIS,” the winning student team, Team ClaimØ, will present NIYAM, a solution that delivers an openIMIS-compatible API — a focused administration console and an end-to-end demonstration using the current HIB package with synthetic provider and claim data. At its core, NIYAM is a policy-as-code layer for openIMIS that prevents invalid claims at source. It converts each HIB benefit-package revision and provider accreditation update into an effective-dated, machine-readable registry linking claimable services, medicines and procedures to authorized facilities. At data entry, the engine validates facility type, accreditation scope, service code, referral conditions and the policy version active on the date of care, then returns an auditable Allow, Warn or Block decision with the exact reason and correction path. Administrators receive package-diff views, pre-activation impact simulation, maker-checker approval, scheduled rollout, rollback and complete change history. A human-reviewed document-import assistant can accelerate rule configuration, while final eligibility decisions remain deterministic and explainable. With support from GIZ Nepal and technical guidance from the HIB and the SSF, the Health Informatics Lab of Kathmandu University organized the hackathon from 18–19 June 2026 at Aagantuk Resort. It was hosted by the IEEE Kathmandu University Student Branch and powered by Tinker Technologies and Trigonal Technology.

Objectives

Overall: To facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue and technical exchange on using openIMIS in Nepal’s academic sector, supporting education, research, and health system innovation, especially in the context of UHC and financing.

Specific:

To discuss the application of openIMIS in Kathmandu University’s Master's in Health Informatics Program, such as health financing workflows, technical infrastructure, interoperability standards, and policy alignment.
To describe how the Tribhuvan University established a lab to support data interoperability, including its composition, activities, and collaborations especially with the openIMIS initiative.
To present the Hack4UHC winning solution on building robust, open-source solutions on connecting digital health ecosystems for openIMIS, SSF, and HIB in Nepal.

Presentations

Related inputs during the Community Meeting:

Background: