Challenges and perspectives of health informatics and its management in developing Asian countries

Abstract

The health care industry has generated large amounts of complex and diverse data, driven by record keeping, compliance and regulatory requirements and patient care, however in absence of proper management and judicious use of health informatics and data generated through it, the vital information is not being used for the benefi t of patients. Studieshave shown that costs can be dramatically reduced in health care by using health informatics and data collected over long periods of time, like patient's history, recurrence of pathologies, genetic trends, in heritance, and many other statistical tools, which can be used for huge benefi ts of patients. But all these require huge funds, proper training, judicious and honest use of such collected information, brilliant research-updated physicians, experts and managers can make wonders in health care delivery, benefi tting both the government and the patients by synergistic use of health information system generated data. The literature indicates that these systems and their implementation is limited and at times spasmodic in developing as well as low-income countries, largely because of the fi nancial and implementation challenges these countries face. These challenges are likely due to technological, organizational, fi nancial or human resources barriers. With no signs of improvement, despite several governments claiming to soothe balms on the self-infl icted injuries, the health insurance sector, NGOs, WHO,IMF, World Bank and other benevolent rich nations will have to come together to fulfi l the future vision of Health For All especially in poor and developing countries. To tackle the problems of corruption, malpractices in health care where health informatics data in such situations can be exploited for fraud and malpractices, better role of governments, sincere controlling and regulatory authorities in association with International Agencies is recommended to streamline these issues. Data analytics and applications in healthcare are at a nascent stage of development, but rapid advances in platforms and tools with proper management and control can accelerate their maturing process in developing nations as well.

Health Information System in Developing Countries: A Review on the Challenges and Causes of Success and Failure

“…High population and low level of literacy and inequality in the access to and use of information technology services and low level of information technology literacy in many developing countries are key factors in affecting the use of information technology and information systems in the health care systems of these countries ( 35 ). Some of the challenges are more specific to developing countries and developed countries have been less involved in applying HISs; some of these challenges are socioeconomic constraints ( 1 , 15 , 20 - 24 , 23 , 29 , 32 ); topics related to technical and operational infrastructure ( 17 , 22 , 23 , 27 , 30 , 32 - 36 ); incomplete business and lack of adequate business space; lack of private sector participation in health information; non-standard equipment and facilities used in this area; lack of a clear vision in this area ( 22 , 23 , 27 , 30 , 37 - 40 ); and poor integrity between the same HISs at health facility and health management level section ( 11 - 12 , 18 , 20 , 21 - 22 , 24 , 39 ) In addition to these factors, the increase in workload due to the change of HISs from manual to electronic systems has also caused users to resist using these systems ( 40 ). Considering the experiences of developed countries, it seems that one of the root causes in the failure HISs is the existence of cultural factors and the lack of cultural capabilities required to accept and use this system.…”

Medical Informaticians’ Skills and Competencies to Achieve Roles and Opportunities: A Qualitative Study

“…The nature of the MI workforce generated difficulties for this practice analysis [7,8]. There are no comprehensive data on the dimension of the MI workforce.…”