IT Consultant

Scope of Work

For a Consultant to develop the HL7 FHIR standard for patient resources to support health information exchange in Vietnam

I. Background

PATH is an international, non-profit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions that enable communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. By collaborating with diverse public- and private-sector partners, we help provide appropriate health technologies and vital strategies that change the way people think and act. Our work improves global health and well-being. Under the US-CDC Cooperative agreement, number #1 NU2HGH000009-01-00: “Expanding Efforts and Strategies to Protect and Improve Public Health in Vietnam”, PATH has been providing technical support to the Vietnam Administration of Medical Services (VAMS), Ministry of Health (MoH) to enhance the Health Information System (HIS). Since January 2021, PATH has been working with Viettel to support VAMS in developing a facility registry system and Personal Health Record system in Vietnam. We are currently providing technical support to VAMS to align with international standard of health information exchange (HL7 FHIR). The HL7® FHIR® (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard defines how healthcare information can be exchanged between different computer systems regardless of how it is stored in those systems. This work will help to ensure VAMS to request hospitals send information on COVID-19 treatment in a defined standard data format and hospitals will comply and require the hospital’s EHR software provider to export data on COVID-19 treatment align with standard data format. We are looking for an IT consultant who will support VAMS to provide instructions to hospitals and hospital’s EMR software vendor on how to develop the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) core data and the HL7 FHIR profiles, and develop implementation guides with technical assistance from PATH and US-CDC. We are looking for an IT consultant who will support VAMS to provide instructions to hospitals and hospital’s EMR software vendor on how to develop the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) core data and the HL7 FHIR profiles, and develop implementation guides with technical assistance from PATH and US-CDC.

II. Qualifications

Vietnamese local
Strong communication skills in both Vietnamese and English
5 years of experience developing a HIS
2 years of experience developing the electronic medical record(EMR) base on the FHIR standard and deploying it in hospital
Experience working independently to fulfillshort-term deliverables
Creativity and flexibility
Has experienced supporting HIS system at VAMS is a plus

III. Role of Consultant

Attend meetings with VAMS, US-CDC, and PATH as required
Develop specifications and give instructions to hospitals and hospital’s EMR software vendor to develop core data (CDR) for Vietnam EHR
Develop specifications for the pilot of HL7 FHIR Profiles for Vietnam EHR
Pilot to implement the HL7 FHIR API (API: Application Programming Interface) to exchange the health facility registry data with other health information systems.

IV. Duration of Consultant

Three months, from the date the consultant contract is signed by PATH. PATH will only sign the contact upon receiving approval decision from US-CDC to hire this consultant

V. Estimated number of consultancy days:

30 working days

VI. Deliverables

The consultant will collaborate with the PATH GHS team from March 2021. Mr. Ngo Tuan (email tngo@path.org), PATH HIS team lead, is the focal point for this consultant work. The work will primarily be conducted independently and remotely, with meetings as required at the PATH office, in collaboration with VAMS and US-CDC GHS Surveillance and Response team. The consultant has to develop HL7 FHIR implementation guidelines and pilot HL7 FHIR API to perform basic Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD) operation for health facility registry mapping dataset from current API with HL7 FHIR and technical guideline to implement HL7 FHIR API. Required task are as follows: 1. Specifications and instructions to Develop Core DATA for Covid 19’ Electronic Medical Record: 15th May 2021 2. Specifications of the HL7 FHIR Profiles for Covid 19’ Electronic Medical Record: 15th May 2021 3. HL7 FHIR API Endpoint to receive Covid 19’ Electronic Medical Records from other health information systems: 15th June 2021 4 Implementation guidelines for other health information systems to export HL7 FHIR bundles to exchange Covid 19’ Electronic Medical Records: 15th June 2021