Key GCC territories are making progress in implementing their health information exchange (HIE) systems, a topic that will be explored in more detail in the next 6th GCC eHealth Workforce Development Conference (eHWDC 2023).
Scheduled to take place from October 31 to November 2, 2023 at Jumeirah Emirates Towers, the event will focus on critical topics in digital health, with a particular emphasis on examining different HIEs and their clinical integration.
But where are the main markets today?
In the UAE, Abu Dhabi’s HIE, Malaffi, will eventually fully combine data with that of Dubai’s Nabidh as part of the country’s national Riayati program.
Earlier this year, Ali Juma Alajme, then director of digital health at the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention told HIMSS that the country is on track to provide a unified health record through a national HIE.
“It’s for better health services and better outcomes for the community,” he said.
In Saudi Arabia, the launch of part of the National Health and Insurance Services Exchange Platform (NPHIES) should take place before the end of the year.
Dr. Ahmed Balkhair is an advisor to the Saudi National Health Information Center. He is one of the region’s leading figures in healthcare, participating in eHWDC 2023.
Ahead of the event, Dr Balkhair reveals that for the Saudi healthcare sector, NPHIES is a “dream” project.
“This project is an important achievement, a dream for us,” he says. “This is a first-of-its-kind project, as for the first time (we will see both) a centrally managed exchange of clinical and financial data by the NPHIES platform on a national scale, providing practitioners with complete 360 degree view of each patient. HIE will undoubtedly contribute to more efficient healthcare management, reducing costs and delays, while improving patient satisfaction, safety and sustainability.
In Qatar, although there is currently a simpler HIE between the country’s two largest healthcare organizations, Hamad Medical Corporation and Sidra Medicine, there are plans to launch a national HIE in the coming months. Managed by the Ministry of Public Health, the Qatar Health Information Exchange (QHIE) is expected to connect public and private healthcare entities.
Another well-known digital health personality present at eHWDC 2023 is Director of Medical Informatics and Senior Attending Physician in Emergency Medicine at Sidra Medicine, Dr. Khalid Alyafei. Sharing Dr Balkahir’s sentiments, he believes that a national HIE would be beneficial to the nation.
“The QHIE will add a lot of value; This greatly benefits healthcare by providing doctors with comprehensive patient information such as previous visits, complaints, treatments, medications, allergies, and procedures performed, thereby ensuring faster and more timely delivery of care. safe,” he said. “The prospect of a national-level HIE capable of exchanging images and implementing electronic prescriptions in the future is very promising. »
Dr. Balkhair also believes that the Saudi NPHIES will significantly improve a physician’s ability to provide high-quality care, as well as improve billing processes.
“With a unified record, a physician gains a holistic view of a patient’s health journey, streamlining processes such as insurance approvals,” he explains. “This system allows the physician to access data from a variety of sources, enabling more informed decision-making. The system will also ensure that all relevant financial processes and transactions run smoothly, making the doctor’s work more efficient, thereby improving quality, speed, safety and patient satisfaction.
ITS CHALLENGES
Like any implementation of a new technology, adopting an HIE necessarily comes with its share of challenges, both doctors agree.
For Dr Balkhair, the first obstacle is the sheer volume of data to manage.
“Challenges are part and parcel of implementing such systems. In some countries, one of the major challenges has been the sheer volume of data collected,” he explains. “In clinical settings, physicians may be faced with a flood of results from various sources; this may therefore require the introduction of contextual visual interface agents to help doctors identify the most recent patient results or the use of AI as a co-pilot to assist the doctor in their decision-making process.
A second challenge is getting providers excited about its use.
“The system should be user-friendly and health care organizations could be incentivized to adopt it effectively,” continues Dr. Balkhair. “Early adopters may encounter some challenges, which can be resolved by a soft launch, but it is important to recognize that such projects tend to be time consuming and budget consuming. »
For Dr. Alyafei, the quality of patient registration is also a concern.
“An HIE relies heavily on automated matching, where it searches for specific criteria such as Qatar Identity Number (QID), full name and date of birth,” he says. “If there are errors during the registration process, such as missing or incorrect information, this may cause issues with automatic matching.”
A final consideration that organizations need to take into account, Dr. Alyafei adds, is “technical failure.”
“This may include system downtime or power outages; we are constantly working on development to anticipate and meet future challenges.
AI IN HIE
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has been the subject of much debate this year. And its use should not be underestimated within HIEs, specifies Dr Balkhair, who has already highlighted his role as co-pilot.
“The large amount of data in an HIE can be significantly streamlined with the help of AI. It can serve as a valuable co-pilot for doctors, providing them with clinical support,” he says. “AI can also benefit financial systems by improving fraud protection and helping policymakers work with diverse stakeholders. »
IMPACT ON THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE
In the GCC countries, particularly the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, precision medicine and value-based healthcare are considered to be of great importance in shaping the future of healthcare in the region.
Currently, Qatar operates a national newborn screening program that detects potential problems such as metabolic and endocrine diseases.
Centralizing this information through QHIE will shape precision medicine in the future, Dr. Alyafei predicts.
“A family doctor with access to a family’s genome allows them to provide comprehensive advice and better patient care,” he says. “National newborn screening includes metabolic and genetic screening, and this information can help us predict future health problems and facilitate early intervention. Centralizing this information can help us detect and manage earlier and reduce emergency cases.
HIE data will also help shape future medical programs in Saudi Arabia, says Dr Balkhair.
“When we bring together data from diverse sources – clinical, socio-economic, genomic, environmental and mental health data – it allows us to better understand how to support precision medicine in clinical services and gain insight into trends and changes in population health,” he said. said. “It will also support the transition to value-based health services, focusing on outcomes rather than just outputs.
“The proliferation of data from sources like our HIE has the potential to transform the entire healthcare landscape in the region. »
Register to attend eHWDC 2023 by visiting gccehealth.org.
