CHITS shares award with health workers after winning as Best Health Market Innovation in RP
November 8, 2011 12:06 am | by Aliyah Lou Evangelista | Posted in News
Makati, Philippines – The Community Health Information Tracking System or CHITS, the country’s first electronic medical record system for government health facilities, shares its triumph with public health workers upon winning the “Best Health Market Innovation Award” in last night’s Galing-Likha Kalusugan Awards at the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Intercontinental Manila.
CHITS hailed as one of the four "Best Health Market Innovation Award" in RP from hundreds of creative projects on health care delivery and financing.
Department of Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Presidential Sister Aurora Corazon Aquino-Abellada, Mr. Reiner Gloor, President of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines, and Dr. Alejandro Herrin, Chair, Project Steering Committee of the Galing Likha Kalusugan Awards presented the award. Dr. Portia Fernandez-Marcelo, Director of UP Manila National Telehealth Center (NTHC), along with the CHITS project manager Dr. Marie Irene Sy, and project coordinator Noel A. Bañez, RN received the award. In her acceptance speech, Dr. Marcelo emphasized the role of public health workers as the “real” champions in improving health care delivery through CHITS.
CHITS was given the award due to its significant contribution to improving health care delivery in government health centers. Nurses and midwives who usually record health data on paper were trained to use the system to generate timely reports for DOH national vertical health programs. With the persistence of its program implementers, delays for accessing of health data were minimized giving more time for health workers to give care to patients at the health center.
“Kung hindi tayo, sino? Kung hindi ngayon, Kailan pa? (If not us, then who? If not now then when?) was Dr. Marcelo’s bold statement after describing CHITS’ success in revolutionizing record-keeping in government health centers. It has been recorded that CHITS has surpassed challenges in making the system work with most public health workers who do not know how to use computers.
CHITS, along with Tarlac’s Wireless Access for Health (WAH), NKTI Hemodialysis Center-Fresenius Medical Care Lease Agreement, and the Franchise Networks of Generics Pharmacies, topped other 117 health programs in health care service delivery, financing, facilitation, regulation, and promotion that have creatively address problems that plague health care in the Philippines.
The award was given by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in partnership with the Center for Health Market Innovation (CHMI) to innovative health programs that have changed how health care transactions are delivered in the market place.
(From left to right) NTHC Director Dr. Portia Fernandez-Marcelo, CHITS pioneer Dr. Alvin Marcelo, DOH Sec. Enrique Ona, the CHITS Project Team: Project Manager Dr. Marie Irene Sy, Project Coordinator Noel Bañez, RN, and NTHC Communicatons Officer Aliyah Lou Evangelista
CHITS implementers underwent a tedious process of revalidas and interviews by the PIDS screening committee and several health experts in the country. From the 117 programs, CHITS was shortlisted to 46 health projects and down to top 20 outstanding health programs. The top four programs hailed as the “Best Health Market Innovation” were chosen based on;
- Impact on many agents or principals with the overall effect deemed to be positive for the society;
- Sustainability for the purpose of replication and implementation on a larger scale;
- Pro-poor orientation to meet the health needs of the people in lower income groups and those with insufficient access; and
- Adoption of appropriate technology that is interesting, unique and pioneering.
NTHC not only brought home the bacon with CHITS but also with the BuddyWorks Telehealth Project entering Top 20. Ms. Lucille Nieverra, World Health Organization Representative from the Philippines, lauded Buddywork’s promise “to deliver health care despite barriers of distance” in her opening message.
NTHC also co-received the Best Health Market Innovation Award for the Wireless Access for Health with the Provincial Government of Tarlac, RTI international, United States Agency for International Development, Smart Communications, Inc., Tarlac State University, and the National Epidemiological Center and Information Management Service of DOH in scaling up the use CHITS in the province of Tarlac.
NTHC co-received the Best Health Market Innovation Award for the Wireless Access for Health with the Provincial Government of Tarlac, RTI international, United States Agency for International Development, Smart Communications, Inc., Tarlac State University, and the National Epidemiological Center and Information Management Service of DOH in scaling up the use CHITS in the province of Tarlac.
CHMI is an international global network that researches and documents innovative health programs around that have significantly changed how health is delivered in the marketplace. CHMI puts importance to projects that can be scaled up and replicated in other regions of the world.
