AeHIN-openIMIS Country Hub in the Philippines

Advancing the 2030 Agenda through openIMIS

The openIMIS initiative works to include excluded populations into social (health) protection schemes by improving the schemes’ data and information management capacities through openIMIS.

openIMIS is the first open-source software for the linking of beneficiary, provider and payer data.

It benefits the management of the social health protection system by optimizing process flows, promoting transparency, enhancing financial management, and providing a means for beneficiary identification and tracking.

openIMIS Community of Practice in Asia

As part of this initiative, AeHIN is leading the formation of an openIMIS Community of Practice (CoP) in Asia.

This community engages with ministries, health education institutions, medical student associations, interoperability labs, and related groups to explore possible use cases for openIMIS implementation in Asia, particularly in the academic setting.

To support the application of ICT solutions for social health protection, the openIMIS CoP in Asia works on contextualizing capacity-building strategies and supplementary knowledge materials with the specific needs of countries.

These insights are also expected to refine knowledge products on ICT solutions for social (health) protection at the global level.

Application of openIMIS in Medical Universities in the Philippines

openIMIS Country Hub in the Philippines consists of partners from the (1) University of the Philippines Manila (UPM), (2) St Luke’s College of Medicine, and (3) Asian Medical Students Association Philippines.

The need for openIMIS in the university sprung various needs such as lack of practical know-how of students on health financing, limited learning tools and real-life scenarios to demonstrate the operational side of social health protection (enrolment, claims submission, reports, etc), and missing link between clinical procedures in medical schools and information systems, particularly on health financing. 

In September, the openIMIS Country Hub Philippines will conduct a training of trainers (ToT) workshop on openIMIS’ application at the clinical skills lab. The event will be a venue for evaluating the openIMIS clinical skills students’ lab manual and its corresponding faculty guide, as well as the usability of the openIMIS at the academic setting.

Below is the tentative program:

AeHIN completes first openIMIS T-o-T Workshop in UP Manila

As part of the openIMIS initiative, AeHIN is leading the formation of an openIMIS Community of Practice (CoP) in Asia.

On September 12, AeHIN completed its first openIMIS ToT Workshop in UP Manila. The workshop was attended by MS Health Informatics students and faculty of the UP College of Medicine.

Ms. Kristin Pascual and Dr. Alvin Marcelo provided an overview on Digital Health, the importance of Health Information Systems in health insurance management and the openIMIS software at the beginning of the workshop.

Dr. Marcelo mentioned that it is through these workshops that we can start an openIMIS Community of Practice.

Ms. Rose Ann Zuniga, Health Systems Expert at Standards and Interoperability Asia, together with Dr. Sara Rulloda, Health Education Research Associate for openIMIS Philippines, led the hands-on workshop on openIMIS.

During the evaluation period, participants actively gave their inputs on how openIMIS can be better offered to universities in the Philippines. One of the suggestions is to package the activity as a health financing workshop using openIMIS as a tool for navigating health insurance processes.

AeHIN completes openIMIS ToT Workshop at SLCM

AeHIN has successfully conducted the second leg of its openIMIS ToT Workshop held at St. Luke's College of Medicine (SLCM) last November 9.

A total of seven participants composed of students and faculty from SLCM participated in the workshop.

As suggested in the first openIMIS ToT Workshop held in UP Manila last September, AeHIN included an overview on health insurance with the help of Dr. Dante Salvador.

After the half-day workshop, the following feedback were gathered:

• Inclusion of data privacy module in the manual

• Next steps: Implementation of openIMIS in SLCM's partner community in Old Balara focused on the following:

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  • Recording of patient data (rather than insurance)

  • Reports on generation

  • Use of openIMIS mobile app

  • Request for funding of laptop and mobile device in Old Balara

  • Request to change location variables in the system into names of streets in Old Balara

AeHIN is planning to conduct its next workshop in January 2020.

AeHIN finishes its first openIMIS T-o-T Workshop for 2020 at ASMPH

AeHIN has conducted its first openIMIS T-o-T Workshop for the year last January 18, 2020 at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health.

Four students from the Advocates for Consciousness and Social Involvement Society - Asian Medical Students' Association (ACSIS-AMSA) has participated in the workshop.

In this workshop, AeHIN has added a part on Ethics, Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality in both the program and the student manual.

It is expected that more information will be added through the help and suggestions of faculty and students in the upcoming workshops.

The next workshop will be held at San Beda College of Medicine on February 22.

The latest copy of the openIMIS Manual for Medical Students available here.

AeHIN completes its fourth openIMIS T-o-T Workshop in the Philippines

AeHIN completed its fourth openIMIS T-o-T Workshop in the Philippines at San Beda College of Medicine last February 22. Four faculty members and 14 students joined the workshop.

During the feedback session, the faculty members expressed their interest to use openIMIS as an EMR for an outpatient clinic their university will be establishing by next year. They would also want to explore how they can use openIMIS in their partner health facilities.