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- Purpose of consultancy
This consultancy aims to support the Government of Egypt in its efforts in achieving progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) through strengthening its health information system. As part of WHO support to universal health insurance (UHI) implementation in Egypt particularly its information management component, WHO will contract an information systems expert with vast experience in building providers’ information system in the context of UHI system.
- Background
According to the new UHI law issued by the Government of Egypt in 2014, insurance coverage for all Egyptians will be rolled-out all over the country in 6 phases over 15-years. As mentioned in the law, the health system will be restructured into a) Universal Health Insurance Agency (UHIA) which serves as strategic purchaser of health services covered by the insurance system, b) Egyptian Healthcare Authority (EHA) serving as the public “provider” of health services to the insured population; and 3) the General Authority for Healthcare Accreditation and Regulation (GAHAR) as the “accreditor and technical regulator” of providers.
Implementation of this new UHI system will involve introduction of significant changes in the requirements and flow of data and information needed to manage functions of both provider and purchaser particularly in the light of current organizational restructuring separating financing from provision of health services, and the mandates and obligations of each in terms of data and information management and exchange.
In preparation for development of UHI information system, WHO intends to support upgrade the health information system (HIS), medical records management and accelerate the implementation of international coding systems, including International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD11), to improve specificity and consistency of the coded data.
Medical records are of great importance and necessary for current and future patient care, as used in the management and planning of health care facilities and services, for medical research, the extraction of health care statistics and for the management and control of medical insurance system.
Civil registration is “The continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events (live births, deaths, etc.) provided through degree or regulation in accordance with legal requirement of each country”.
CRVS allows governments, including ministries of health and population (MOHP)s to make better informed decisions and provide more targeted public services. Vital statistics is used to measure progress in different areas such as access to education, achieving gender equality and reducing inequalities.
Accurate death certificate data is required for monitoring the population health, identifying trends of diseases and detects leading causes of death. Quality of cause of death depends on reliability of death certification and accuracy of coding. National mortality data registered manually then entered through the application of health information system (HIS), needs to be strengthened in Egypt with the help of WHO to facilitate reporting accurate cause of death.
In Egypt, the ministry of health and population (MOHP) has been upgrading its system of coding of morbidity and mortality in healthcare facilities, health offices and in disease and mortality national reporting in the National Health Information System. Several applications have been developed through collaboration between MOHP and Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development – in MOHP and university hospitals (ADT) and in health offices (Electronic Cause of Death Reporting) for developing updates on its systems (CRVS, Electronic Medical Records, and other), and is also working on developing an information system for UHI.
Therefore, WHO intends to work with MOHP, EHA, Universities, and other relevant health facilities in the public sector for planning and implementation of ICD11 based CRVS applications, MR & EMR applications as well as UHI Information System currently under development.
- Work to be performed
Deliverable 1: Upgrade Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) System
Output 1.1: Build physicians’ capacity on proper selection of direct and indirect causes of death according to MCCOD through electronic reporting of causes of deaths from hospitals to health offices permitting timely and regular monitoring and evaluation.
Output 2.1: Improve the quality of data collected for the different indicators extracted from the CRVS related to birth and death with relevant national stakeholders.
Deliverable 2: Support Medical Records management
Output 2.1: Help to implement a well-functioning medical records and information system at PH facilities and referral hospitals with sharing of relevant data and information.
Output 2.2: Revision of forms currently in use and development of new forms in both UHI hospitals and other MOHP hospitals prepared for UHC.
Output 2.3: Help to collect data on cancer patients and to establish cancer registries.
Deliverable 3: Develop a digitalized Health Information System
As MOHP is keen to develop a national digital health strategy, there is a need to establish a robust governance system for digital health to enable the sustainable, cross-cutting, and scalable implementation of digital health services.
Output 3.1: Revise the implementation of the electronic medical record and digital transformation in UHC Governorates (number of governorates), consolidating the experience and ensuring its sustainability and reliability in other governorates as directed by H.E. Minister of Health and Population in Egypt.
Output 3.2: Ensure that electronic medical record is well-managed and functional.
Deliverable 4: Enhance the coding system in the Health System
Output 4.1: Support amendment and update of the services benefits package by making its terminology consistent with the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) for all added interventions and specialties to become ready to use by the electronic medical records in the hospitals used in billing and ultimately claims management by UHIA.
Output 4.2: Help to enhance efficiency of health workers in health offices, primary health unit and hospitals on using ICD-11 system to build a pool of competent coders or physicians who can efficiently use ICD 11 codes.
- Qualifications, experience, skills and languages
- Educational Qualifications required:
- Master’s degree in Public Health with a Medical background.
- Experience required:
- Minimum 7 years’ experience in building and managing health information projects specially related to health insurance systems.
- Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:
- Proven skills in capacity building
- Demonstrated knowledge of health sector
- Experience in designing and providing information system training for users.
- Language requirements:
- Arabic mother tongue
- Fluent (Read - Write - Speak) in English
- Location
The consultant will work under WHO management, serving as full time advisor to GAHC designated information system staff and other stakeholders.
Duty station: She/he will be stationed in Cairo and will travel to UHI implementation governorates as needed.
- Planned timelines (Dates to be confirmed)
The consultant will work on part-time basis (4 days / week) through the period from June to December 31st, 2023.
- Medical clearance
The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.
- Travel
Travel cost and accommodation are excluded from this contract.
Additional Information
- This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
- Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
- A written test may be used as a form of screening.
- If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
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- WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
- WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
- Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
- WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
- WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
