Tucumán’s computerized Health System.
A solution developed with GeneXus, includes over 1.3 million records of patients from the Argentinean province.
With a single base containing data of over 1.3 million patients, the Argentinean province of Tucumán has managed to centralize all data on its citizens while simplifying some processes thanks to their “Computerized Health System”, a tool developed with GeneXus that provides full information on each patient in that province.
Precedents
Nine years ago, Tucumán’s 60 Primary Health Care Centers (“Centros de Atención Primaria de Salud” - CAPS) and the province’s nine hospitals (which are part of a Hospital Management system) totally lacked computer systems and processes. Manual work was endless and lead to duplications and backlog, while the information available was neither prompt nor reliable for managerial decision making, according to statements made by the province’s Health Minister Pablo Raúl Yedlin at a conference that was part of the XXII GeneXus International Meeting.
To solve this problem, the creation of a tool for “simplifying processes, providing information promptly, centralizing the data on each patient, and organizing a data system focused on identifying, individualizing and locating every patient and subjecting them to health controls” was necessary, the Minister explained.
A quick and efficient solution for urging problems
The system was created with GeneXus, because –in the words of the Undersecretary of Data Systems of Tucumán’s Public Health Ministry, Mr. Sergio Epstein– “GeneXus is an agile tool that enables quick maintenance and leads to a faster and more efficient production. That’s the reason why we have been using it since the beginning of the project nine years ago”.
All this has made Tucumán’s registry of health patients and services reliable, with the possibility of issuing individual cards for each citizen, while making controls more effective, with prompt and reliable reports that have enhanced the strategies for action within the health field, as Minister Pablo Yedlin explained.
How does the Computerized Health System work?
At present, when a citizen is subject to health care services in any health system (CAPS, Hospital Management, Health Program and Emergency System, which involves ambulance services), the patient’s basic data –name, age, location, etc.–, as well as the patient’s diagnosis and treatment, date of hospitalization or participation in a health program, are all entered into the Computerized System which is connected to a central server.
Once this data has been entered, physicians and hospitals throughout the province gain access to that data every time that the patient is admitted at a hospital or whenever he requires health services. With all of the province’s health information centralized in this manner, it is possible to have perfect follow-ups of patients, where physicians can make better diagnoses or continue with treatments. And, the overall quality of the services provided to the public is in fact improved.
This system, applied to Health Programs, allows for the generation and management of individual health cards containing full data and health information of each citizen, including details on chronic conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure, to make controls easier.
CAPS have also been equipped with Digital Vaccination Modules where charts are kept with records of vaccines and doses provided to children to prevent different diseases. All parents have internet access to this registry.
“Thanks to the system, we are now using the data registry of more than 1.3 million patients (Tucumán’s population amounts to 1.5 million). This in addition to the over 2.8 million medical appointments offered by the hospital system, and the 2.3 million services provided by the emergency system (ambulances)”, said Minister Yedlin.
The expectation are that the Computerized Health System developed with GeneXus Evolution, will include some further features for allowing Primary Health Care Centers and the Emergency System the possibility of producing patient details on the spot, without the current requirement of having to fill out a form with the data that is later entered into a computer. “This tool has great potential”, said the officials from the government of Tucumán.
Precedents
Nine years ago, Tucumán’s 60 Primary Health Care Centers (“Centros de Atención Primaria de Salud” - CAPS) and the province’s nine hospitals (which are part of a Hospital Management system) totally lacked computer systems and processes. Manual work was endless and lead to duplications and backlog, while the information available was neither prompt nor reliable for managerial decision making, according to statements made by the province’s Health Minister Pablo Raúl Yedlin at a conference that was part of the XXII GeneXus International Meeting.
To solve this problem, the creation of a tool for “simplifying processes, providing information promptly, centralizing the data on each patient, and organizing a data system focused on identifying, individualizing and locating every patient and subjecting them to health controls” was necessary, the Minister explained.
A quick and efficient solution for urging problems
The system was created with GeneXus, because –in the words of the Undersecretary of Data Systems of Tucumán’s Public Health Ministry, Mr. Sergio Epstein– “GeneXus is an agile tool that enables quick maintenance and leads to a faster and more efficient production. That’s the reason why we have been using it since the beginning of the project nine years ago”.
All this has made Tucumán’s registry of health patients and services reliable, with the possibility of issuing individual cards for each citizen, while making controls more effective, with prompt and reliable reports that have enhanced the strategies for action within the health field, as Minister Pablo Yedlin explained.
How does the Computerized Health System work?
At present, when a citizen is subject to health care services in any health system (CAPS, Hospital Management, Health Program and Emergency System, which involves ambulance services), the patient’s basic data –name, age, location, etc.–, as well as the patient’s diagnosis and treatment, date of hospitalization or participation in a health program, are all entered into the Computerized System which is connected to a central server.
Once this data has been entered, physicians and hospitals throughout the province gain access to that data every time that the patient is admitted at a hospital or whenever he requires health services. With all of the province’s health information centralized in this manner, it is possible to have perfect follow-ups of patients, where physicians can make better diagnoses or continue with treatments. And, the overall quality of the services provided to the public is in fact improved.
This system, applied to Health Programs, allows for the generation and management of individual health cards containing full data and health information of each citizen, including details on chronic conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure, to make controls easier.
CAPS have also been equipped with Digital Vaccination Modules where charts are kept with records of vaccines and doses provided to children to prevent different diseases. All parents have internet access to this registry.
“Thanks to the system, we are now using the data registry of more than 1.3 million patients (Tucumán’s population amounts to 1.5 million). This in addition to the over 2.8 million medical appointments offered by the hospital system, and the 2.3 million services provided by the emergency system (ambulances)”, said Minister Yedlin.
The expectation are that the Computerized Health System developed with GeneXus Evolution, will include some further features for allowing Primary Health Care Centers and the Emergency System the possibility of producing patient details on the spot, without the current requirement of having to fill out a form with the data that is later entered into a computer. “This tool has great potential”, said the officials from the government of Tucumán.