“In order to improve the performance and make better decisions based on the patient’s record and data, some PIHI-run hospitals were equipped with HIS system,” Mehdi Hashemi said. 

He referred to the formation of five working groups to deal with health, human resources, financial issues, customer management and information technology, saying: “These five working groups have been established to study and assess the operational plans of PIHO.”

“In order for implementing the strategic plans of PIHO and their prioritization, an operational monitoring system was launched,” said Hashemi.

Reiterating the key role of healthcare in logistics, he said: “The idea behind the use of this system is to have coherent information at our disposal with minimum error and regular monitoring.” He said such system would become operational in the current calendar year.

“Another issue with PIHO Directorate of Planning was to examine the performance of statistics center. Until recently, based on a series of indexes, the data was gathered and report on a case-by-case basis. But it was decided that the indexes be updated so that in collaboration with local managers the data would be gathered and mined through IT division before being processed at the statistics center,” said Hashemi.

“In order to benefit from the views of managers of various divisions, we are looking to establish the management information system (MIS) to transform PIHO data into knowledge. The necessity for the accessibility of complete and precise data in the healthcare sector takes up added significance in the assessment of performance. This program will be available by” next March, he added.

Hashemi referred to PIHO’s productivity, saying: “Based on NIOC’s instructions about productivity, the Productivity Committee whose members are PIHO Board members was established. Due to insufficient data about healthcare productivity, a specific area was decided to be chosen for pilot project.” 

He said the project was implemented last February in PIHO’s Isfahan branch “so that we can overcome challenges and remove shortcomings in order to be influential in PIHO’s productivity in collaboration with NIOC.”

Hashemi said another important measure by this Directorate was to institutionalize the issue of health economy and removing challenges to provision of services. 

“In this regard, a committee was set up at the Directorate of Planning last September and the code of conduct for outsourcing of non-governing units of PIHO is being outlined,” he said.

Hashemi said the code of conduct would be ready in the current calendar year and the outsourcing of sections with no governing role would be instructed “so that we would be able to provide the best possible services to petroleum industry staff.”

Reiterating the need for transparency in costs, he said: “Over recent years, healthcare centers in our country, particularly hospitals, have made their information systems paperless. In order to improve performance and make better decisions based on the patient’s history, some PIHO-run areas were equipped with HIS. The objective of this system has been to improve the performance of healthcare centers and its role in healthcare decision-makings.”

Hashemi also said: “We are looking for a comprehensive IT and communications plan in order to push ahead with data architecture and implement it in an integrated manner in the entire organization.”