AeHIN openIMIS Community of Practice in Asia

The open source Insurance Management Information System (openIMIS) is the first open source software that manages social (health) protection schemes by linking beneficiary, provider, and payer data. With a modular structure, openIMIS can be modified according to country-specific needs.

The initiative aims to contribute to the “gradual inclusion of hitherto excluded populations into social (health) protection schemes by improving the schemes’ data and information management capacities through openIMIS.” Part of its objectives is to complement ICT infrastructure for Insurance and other finance mechanisms with openIMIS or specific modules.

To achieve its goal, one of the expected outputs of the initiative is the establishment of a Community of Practice (CoP) for openIMIS users in existing networks. Currently being implemented in Tanzania and Nepal, the openIMIS initiative collaborated with the Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) to expand its reach in Asia.

The Asia eHealth Information Network (AeHIN) promotes better use of information communication technology (ICT) to achieve better health through peer-to-peer assistance and knowledge sharing and learning through a regional approach for greater country-level impacts across South and Southeast Asia.

To inform the direction and development of openIMIS, AeHIN will create a regional CoP in Asia that will provide country input on challenges, priorities, and user requirements for the system. These insights are expected to refine knowledge products on ICT solutions for social (health) protection at the global level.

The openIMIS Community of Practice in Asia is a regional hub of health education institutions, medical student associations, in-country interoperability labs, and other related networks that actively review, implement, and evaluate openIMIS in various use cases, particularly in the academic setting, to support the application of ICT solutions for social health protection.

Goal:

Management of social health insurance and other health protection schemes to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) through openIMIS

Vision:

Position openIMIS as a global good that can support the application of concepts and skills on social health protection and health informatics

Mission:

Strengthen the openIMIS community in Asia by contextualizing capacity-building strategies and supplementary knowledge materials with the reality of concrete country cases

Scope:

Application of openIMIS as an Academic Learning Tool (Primary)

CONTEXT: In the in the 2018 AeHIN General Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, AeHIN member countries expressed their interest for a digital tool which may be used by health faculty and students to learn about the functionality of social health insurance processes in an interactive learning environment.

POTENTIAL USE CASE: Health education institutes may benefit from openIMIS by using it to demonstrate core functionalities of a UHC system and business processes of a social health insurance scheme

Interoperability of openIMIS with Multiple Health Information Systems (Secondary/Upon Request)

CONTEXT: Asia is a host to a wide range of siloed and oftentimes vendor-based health information systems being used by various health facilities. Since AeHIN’s inception in 2012, countries have reiterated the importance of data exchange among these health information systems at the national level.

POTENTIAL USE CASE: To introduce openIMIS in the region, it is crucial to demonstrate its interoperability with other systems in the digital health ecosystem of a country.

Target Audience:

Health Education Institutions
Asian Medical Student Associations
In-country Interoperability Labs

Strategy and Activites:

Establishment of Country Hubs
1. Advocate for the establishment and strengthening of the openIMIS Asia Regional Hub , with a particular focus on the Asian Medical Student Associations and Health Education Institutions
2. Form a network of faculty members who will advocate the use of openIMIS (for teaching)
3. Form a network of medical/nursing students who will advocate the use of openIMIS (for learning)
4. Create further use cases to support countries with little experience in health financing
Development of Information, Education, and Communication Materials
1. Conduct needs assessment on how Health Education Institutions can integrate openIMIS into their curricula
2. Develop short courses on setting-up and using openIMIS in Health Education Institutions
3. Prepare training materials on setting-up and using openIMIS in Health Education Institutions
Capacity-building and Technology Transfer
1. Conduct training of trainers workshop/s among country hubs (inception, capacity-building, and completion workshop)
  1. September 12, 2019 - openIMIS ToT Workshop in the Philippines (UP Manila)
  2. September 21, 2019 - openIMIS ToT Workshop in the Philippines (St. Luke's Medical Center)
2. Provide an online meeting and online training platform to demonstrate the application of openIMIS in Asia
3. Provide an enterprise architecture tool to manage architectural artifacts of openIMIS in Asia
4. Create separate cloud instances for openIMIS In each country
Interoperability Testing (Upon Request)
1. Test the interoperability of openIMIS with health information systems being used in a country
2. Integrate the country’s preferred health information system with openIMIS
Regional Knowledge Sharing and Networking
1. Conduct knowledge sharing activities to document experiences of openIMIS Asia Regional Hub (best practices, lessons learned, and technical recommendations)
2. Conduct webinars on the progress of openIMIS Asia Regional Hub
3. Conduct face-to-face meetings to gather the country hubs of the openIMIS Asia Regional Hub
4. Promote openIMIS through digital marketing and public relations initiatives in Asia
Strengthening of Global Public Goods
1. Support the openIMIS community in its implementation and capacity development strategy with focus on experiences from Asia
2. Coordinate with openIMIS Africa Regional Hub to develop global goods
3. Connect with Health Education Institutions in Europe and Africa on incorporating openIMIS in the academic setting
4. Document the activities conducted in the openIMIS wiki (wiki.openimis.org)