News

The impact of digital transformation on health data governance systems and the tools needed to create systems that benefit the patients were some of the topics addressed during the RUTE-AL Webinar "Health Data Governance in LAC," held on Wednesday, 31 July.

Moderated by María Loreto Rodríguez, from the Interoperability Unit of the Chilean Ministry of Health (MINSAL), the session brought together more than 70 participants and featured presentations from experts Dr. Jorge Pacheco, head of the Department of Health Statistics and Information at MINSAL, and Alejandro Benavides, systems engineer and co-founder of the Central American Health Informatics Network (RECAINSA) from Costa Rica.

In his presentation, Benavides shared RECAINSA's experience using data governance as a basis for interoperability strategies in Central America and emphasized who should be the primary beneficiaries of this process: patients. "I believe that our discussion on using health data can be misguided if we focus only on the technologies. It's clear that interoperability involves the exchange of data, but that cannot be its goal; it is more important to use this data to create policies that benefit health in the region, keeping the patient at the center of the discussion", he said.

The expert added that governance is fundamental in building the bridge between data and its proper use. "The role of those responsible for governance is not only to define the rules for data use but also to outline strategies, the ‘how’ and ‘when’ of its correct implementation," Benavides explained. This strategy must be supported by professionals trained for the task. "I believe one of our greatest weaknesses is the lack of human resources for health interoperability. If we want to move forward, we need multidisciplinary and multisectoral technical teams," he added.

One of the region's most successful experiences in data governance is that of Chile, where the Ministry of Health decided to tackle the challenges of digital transformation in the health sector with a comprehensive strategy. "Our first challenge was the rapidly changing environment, with fast technological obsolescence, new regulatory requirements, and, simultaneously, the demand from users for information to be available in real time," analyzed Jorge Pacheco.

In this context, the Ministry outlined an action plan that began with an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses and continued with creating a governance model aimed at managing health data ethically, with quality and security, in an integrated manner, and compliance with current regulations. In practical terms, MINSAL has developed a set of technical standards that define health information standards, which are periodically reviewed, and data management manuals that describe each step from data collection to its publication as statistics or its use in creating public policies.

"This effort required everyone’s commitment with a digital transformation process at the government level. Today we can say that there is a vision and commitment to intersectoral integration for the benefit of health in our country and systems with national reach," concluded Pacheco.

After the presentations by Pacheco and Benavides, a question and answer session took place, fostering an interactive dialogue. The webinar, titled "Health Data Governance in LAC", is now available for review on the RedCLARA video channel

The next RUTE-AL webinar will be held on Wednesday, August 14, on "OneHealth: Lessons and Experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean." More information is available at https://redclara.net/es/colaboracion/conozca/rute-al