Good Practices for the Implementation and Management of a National Master Patient Index


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Author(s): MEASURE Evaluation SIFSA

Year: 2015

Good Practices for the Implementation and Management of a National Master Patient Index Abstract:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines eHealth as “the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for health.” According to the WHO, “eHealth is concerned with improving the flow of information, through electronic means, to support the delivery of health services and the management of health systems.”

The South Africa National eHealth strategy (2012) provides a roadmap for the implementation of eHealth in the country. As part of the eHealth foundations section, it states the need for “implementation of a national patient master index for unique patient identification.”

The (South African) National Health Normative Standards Framework for Interoperability in eHealth (HNSF) was released in 2014 to provide guidelines around ensuring interoperability between the various systems in the health sector. Among the recommendations in the HNSF is the establishment of a patient registry to manage patients in the health system.

Filed under: ICTs , EHealth , Health System , South Africa