Achieving interoperable health information systems to improve primary care service delivery in Indonesia

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Workshop participants learned how to implement standardized data into EMR systems. Photo credit: JSI

Primary care is the backbone of health systems around the world, providing critical health services throughout the different stages of life. Tracking health services across these life stages is critical for continuity of care. However, in Indonesia, more than 10,000 primary health care centers, or puskesmas, use over 60 different health information systems to collect and aggregate health data. These systems are unable to exchange that data, making it difficult to coordinate primary health care services across puskesmas. 

To provide quality health care across life stages, health care centers need standard data systems that can exchange information. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is focused on strengthening the country’s health information system, including standardizing and ensuring that data can be exchanged across systems, known as interoperability, in primary care settings. This is crucial for scaling up Indonesia's integrated primary care health care model, Integrasi Layanan Primer (ILP), and making evidence-based decisions.

Data Integration for Primary Care

To scale up ILP, CHISU is supporting the MOH’s Center for Data and Technology (PUSDATIN) to enhance data standardization and achieve interoperability. One aspect of this support is monitoring the integration of ILP data into Indonesia’s national health data exchange platform SATUSEHAT, focusing on key health areas such as maternal and newborn health, tuberculosis, and HIV. With the Directorate of Public Health Management (TAKELMAS), CHISU has helped prioritize ILP indicators, such as prenatal care for pregnant women, with a focus on data related to minimum service standards. The goal is seamless data transactions across health care centers, resulting in reduced data entry time for health workers. 

Data Standardization 

In August 2024, CHISU, PUSDATIN, the MOH’s Digital Transformation Office (DTO), TAKELMAS, UNICEF, and other MOH directorates organized a national training workshop focused on  standardizing electronic medical records (EMR) so data could be exchanged with SATUSEHAT. The workshop included 116 EMR vendors supporting the ILP program and guided participants in how to implement standardized data in their EMR systems. Attended by 116 participating vendors, covering more than 16,000 health care centers nationwide, the national workshop included discussions and practical exercises on the adoption of standardized ILP priority indicators and supporting national goals for data integration monitoring through the Data Integration Monitoring Dashboard.

Data Visualization  

By the end of September 2024, the Data Integration Monitoring Dashboard —developed with CHISU’s support— was launched nationwide. This dashboard will monitor the completeness of ILP program data submitted to SATUSEHAT, making it easy for the MOH, provincial and district health offices, and health care centers to track and assess data sent to SATUSEHAT. Following the dashboard’s launch, CHISU and the MOH will orient the SATUSEHAT Data Integration Dashboard to health care centers and vendors, followed by implementation and review sessions on a weekly basis. With the dashboard, health officials can access national-level integrated data, allowing them to make evidence-based decisions to improve the lives of Indonesians across the country.