Description of Session
Monitoring and improving quality of health care in LMICs presents unique constraints, including increasing scale and scope of the health sector, poor use of monitoring data and delayed course correction. Enhanced supervision is estimated to have the highest potential impact of all health system interventions. The Health Network Quality Improvement System (HNQIS) is an electronic tablet-based application created by PSI to improve quality of health services in health networks and to effectively manage and reach health impact at scale. HNQIS is composed of four modules that support Quality Assurance Officers (QAOs) to (i) plan supportive supervision visits using a prioritization matrix that factors quality scores and patient volume, (ii) assess providers’ quality of care against clinical standards, (iii) improve providers’ quality of care using tailored feedback that includes videos, and (iv) monitor quality over time. HNQIS is in sync with District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) and allows Health System Managers at district and national level to (i) identify gaps and priority areas to intervene to improve services, and (ii) better target resources. Health System Managers use tailored DHIS2 dashboards to monitor Key Program Indicators (KPIs), prioritize interventions and sustain programmatic decision-making process. HNIQS integrates into existing supervision systems enabling focussed support and better prioritization of scarce resources. The possibility to overlay data on quality of care with other existing databases like disease surveillance, patient load and stock of commodities offers health system managers a 360-degree overview of health service provision. Launched in Kenya in 2015, HNQIS is active in 23 countries with more than 30,000 assessments conducted on 13 Health Areas at more than 8,000 outlets. The presentation aims to share lessons learned on the use of HNQIS data to inform programmatic decision-making and better manage health care networks at scale.
