Project News Vol.15

Prior to the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting, QHCF project joint meetings for Outcome 1 and Outcome 2 were held in late December and early January, respectively. These meetings reviewed the activities and achievements during the project period and discussed sustainable plans beyond the project’s completion.

On January 23, the 3rd JCC meeting was held in Vientiane, attended by 78 participants, including 9 online attendees. The outcomes of activities for Output 1, including quality improvement (assessments using quality standards and continuous quality improvement (CQI) activities) and patient safety were presented. Similarly, Outcome 2 reported the outcomes for the activities on health insurance, accounting, and hospital financial management improvements.

Based on these results, the project’s Chief Advisor explained the achievement of Project Purpose and Overall Goal. The Project Purpose was deemed to have been achieved, and it was confirmed that the Ministry of Health should continue the activities to maintain and enhance these achievements to reach the Overall Goal set for 3-5 years after project completion.

Following the JCC meeting, a group session was held to discuss plans for achieving these Overall Goal.

Self-assessments were conducted at provincial hospitals, and external evaluations by provincial authorities were carried out at district hospitals. Additionally, CQI activity plans were formulated. Furthermore, to advance patient safety activities in the four southern provinces, the results of the first and second Patient Safety Culture Survey were reported to the provincial health offices and hospitals. Based on these results, mid-to-long-term patient safety activity plans were discussed.

A CQI workshop was also held to share the experiences of CQI activities conducted in this project with other provinces and districts targeted by an Asian Development Bank (ADB) quality improvement project (5 provinces, 10 districts). Representatives from the four southern provinces and ADB target areas gathered to actively discuss methods and approaches for quality improvement in hospitals using the 5G1S standards.

Health insurance verification activities incorporating strengthened supportive supervision elements were conducted in each province, along with the Provincial Health Insurance Fund Committee (PHIFC) meetings. Results were shared among stakeholders, and discussions on health insurance were conducted.

Additionally, a study was conducted at provincial hospitals in Champasak and Salavan provinces, as well as selected district hospitals, to analyze how the revision of medical fees and patient co-payment rates (Ministry of Health Decree No. 824) impacted patient behavior and health insurance claims. Data collection and analysis were carried out accordingly.

Existing health insurance leaflets for users were adapted into posters and roll-up banners. The posters were distributed to all provinces, including the four southern provinces, in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Bureau (NHIB).

Supervision activities using checklists for accounting and hospital financial management tasks were conducted in the four southern provinces at both the provincial and district levels.