Description of Session
More and more countries in the world seek to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Universal Social Protection (USP) for their populations. Interactions between stakeholders in health and social protection systems are very complex and generate a lot of data. That is why Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can provide essential support and help to navigate through a system for policymakers and users. Unfortunately, ICT solutions can be expensive and difficult to maintain. Furthermore, many countries do not have sufficient technical and financial capacity to cope with complex ICT structures. Many health system-related ICT projects have been focusing on data extraction, monitoring and evaluation in recent years. What has been lacking is a tool addressing health financing interactions among the key stakeholders in a health care system. As an open-source product, openIMIS is a comprehensive and affordable tool, linking beneficiary, provider and payer data. openIMIS offers a simple and user-friendly way to manage core processes from enrolling beneficiary management to transmitting and verifying claims. The openIMIS Initiative promotes global exchange around the openIMIS software and links global and local communities to benefit from each other. The Initiative was founded and is collaboratively financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Currently, the Initiative is coordinated by GIZ. The presentation will ideally be embedded in a panel discussion on UHC and the underlying principles of a health financing system. If classic health financing functions (resource generation, resource pooling, service purchasing) are addressed, the panel could discuss how those functions can be supported through digital tools to create more efficiency and strategic purchasing of health care services.
