Improved integrated care2x hospital management information system with national health insurance fund system

Abstract

The advancement of technology observed today has led to the development of many Health Management and Information Systems (HMIS), which are cost-effective, reliable, scalable and flexible. However, the Integrated Health Management and Information System (iHMIS) plays a crucial role in the dissemination of information, which helps in decision-making. The care2x HMIS in Tanzania lacks a module to exchanges data between Care2x HMIS and the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) claims management system. The absence of this module in Care2x has effect in patients’ waiting time, the accuracy of submitted claims, the time used in processing claims, and costs incurred in printing claims forms. This study aimed at improving health services by developing an integrated data exchange module between Care2x HMIS and NHIF claim management system, with Arusha and Kilimanjaro selected as the case study due to the presence of a large number of health facilities. Furthermore, the integrated data exchange module was developed by using PHP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript programming languages. The developed module reduces patient waiting time, cost in processing claims and increase accuracy in processing claims. Additionally, this study digitized the NHIF form, thus reducing paperwork and human resource in filling forms. Further, the developed integrated data exchange module enabled NHIF personnel to verify claims before processing payment. The viability of this study is to enhance health service in health facilities.