- Date2021-06-17
- HIRA Completes Training Program for LAC Healthcare Professionals Download
HIRA Completes Training Program for LAC Healthcare Professionals
- Trainees from 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries take part to improve their abilities to purchase value-based healthcare services
The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service conducted a highly successful 14-day course entitled “HIRA Training of LAC Countries for Value Based Purchasing Systems for Health Service” May 25-June 11.
This program was requested and financially supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in an effort to promote cooperation in building a value-based purchasing system for health within the Latin American and Caribbean region. Taking part were 39 healthcare professionals from the governments and health insurance agencies in 11 LAC nations.* The lectures were conducted in Spanish and English via an online platform.
*The 11 countries represented in the program: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, and Uruguay.
The program was organized to improve the trainees’ understanding of strategic purchasing for health and introduce them to relevant organizations. They learned about HIRA’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based strategic purchasing function and reviewed case studies of Korea’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants showed special interest in how Korean healthcare system and expenditure management in health insurance are managed, to include the provider payment system, claims review, quality assessment, drug distribution information management, Drug Utilization Review (DUR) system, health resources management, and ICT system.
In addition, the trainees took part in real time, discussing the opportunities and way forward for LAC countries. They gave presentations on the current state of the systems in their respective countries that guarantee access to healthcare. Dr. Marisabel Rivera of the Honduran Social Security Institute applied the practical lessons learned during the program to present an action plan, in which he said: “Honduras must simultaneously expand primary health care availability as well as build and use an information system like the one at HIRA.”
The nations that enrolled people in the HIRA training program expect to use the knowledge and technologies that HIRA has shared to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of their own national health systems. As a program follow-up, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service will, through the end of this year, provide these countries with consulting support on policy with respect to value-based health purchasing. HIRA aims to offer substantial polities that will allow for the operation of systems that ensure healthcare services are available.
