In a nation where healthcare has been marred by disjointed systems and fragmented care, South Africa’s healthcare organisations are making strides to change this narrative.
South Africa’s health journey has faced challenges with siloed information, often paper-based systems, and a lack of information flow between health professionals, funders and health facilities. These barriers have significantly impacted the cost, quality, and access to healthcare for patients. In response, the Competition Commission’s Health Market Inquiry (HMI) panel spotlighted the urgent need for solutions that bolster transparency, coordination, and innovation.
South Africa’s first industry-wide health information exchange, CareConnect HIE, is a game-changing initiative and the brainchild of major hospital groups, including Life Healthcare, Mediclinic, and Netcare, coupled with leading medical scheme administrators like Discovery Health, Medscheme, and Momentum Health. Their shared vision? An interoperable health system that breaks historic barriers, promoting enhanced patient care, quality, and efficiency. This transformative approach to healthcare was showcased in action at an event in Sandton today, providing attendees a firsthand look at the potential of HIE in South Africa.
Since its launch in August 2022, CareConnect HIE has rapidly advanced, with over 5.2 million consented lives now integrated into the system. However, the true value – from population health benefits to progressive funding and health delivery models – exponentially increases as the amount of data on the exchange grows. Therefore, the aim of the HIE is to be the hub of exchange and the single integration point for ALL health data – from both the public sector and the private sector. Bearing testament to this, representatives from the South African Private Practitioners Forum, the Radiological Society of SA, Mediclinic, Discovery Health, Altron and Momentum Health will share their insights on how HIE will be used in their organisations. In addition, representatives from the Western Cape Department of Health will talk to the public-private collaboration with CareConnect.
CareConnect has adopted a set of international standards (FHIR and HL7) to transfer and share data between various healthcare systems regardless of how it is stored in those systems. These standards underpin interoperability because all participants are ‘speaking the same language’. An interoperable health system will be critical in achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) which will require the ability for patients to move seamlessly between the public and private health sectors, facilities, clinicians or other service providers, depending on the expertise and care they require. To this end, there is engagement with the National Department of Health, who were represented at the event.
Central to the CareConnect HIE is a Unified Care Record (UCR), an electronic medical record that holds a patient’s entire medical journey. This constantly updated and ever-evolving record gives clinicians on-demand access to consolidated patient data, promoting swift, well-informed treatment decisions when and where they are needed.
Privacy and security of data is critical to the success of HIE. The CareConnect HIE conforms to both local and international data privacy regulations to ensure that sensitive health information remains protected at all times and will only be accessible to healthcare providers when medically necessary and only with the patient’s consent. User-based access permissions are automatically regulated by the HIE, further safeguarding sensitive patient information.
Sharing health data saves lives. The more data the industry shares, the more value and benefit to the patient that will be extracted from the HIE.
Dr Rolan Christian, CEO of CareConnect HIE
CareConnect’s innovative new use cases, ranging from tracking acute and chronic patient conditions, listing allergies and adverse reactions, to standardising doctor clinical (discharge) summaries, were demonstrated at the event. These features will enable better coordination of care, minimise medical errors and pave the way to a more cohesive health system.
HIE in various forms has become common across many health systems in the world and has become a priority on many a government health policy agenda as a solution to achieving greater cohesion within health systems and as a mechanism to address cost and quality issues in health. Reflecting global best practices, the CareConnect HIE aligns with the world’s most mature HIEs and breathes life into the National Department of Health’s National Health Digital Strategy for South Africa. This important document outlines the country’s goals towards the development of electronic health records and building interoperability and linkages between existing patient-based information systems.
A strict code of ethics relating the use of information is governed by an internationally recognised and best practice multi-party trust agreement, called DURSA. The DURSA provides a framework that deals with sharing of data among HIE participants and defines the permitted purpose for which the data can only be used.
Dr Rolan Christian, CEO of CareConnect HIE shared: “Sharing health data saves lives. The more data the industry shares, the more value and benefit to the patient that will be extracted from the HIE. We envision that CareConnect HIE will become a ‘utility’ for the entire health sector – to enable improved quality of care, better health outcomes and a more responsive health system.”
The event today boasted a stellar lineup of speakers. Notably, Dr Stavros Nicolaou from B4SA and Aspen Pharmacare and Dominick Bizzarro, offering international perspectives from MVP Health Care, joined other industry luminaries. Their combined insights painted a promising future for healthcare – one that’s harmonised, transparent, and unequivocally cantered on the patient.
