A countrywide clinical informatics project in Uruguay

FEMI is a federation of 23 private not-for-profit health care organizations across Uruguay. It covers approximately 700 thousand people (20 percent of the Uruguayan population) and owns a tertiary center in Montevideo. Pressure from ongoing national changes in health funding and regulation have pushed FEMI to develop a project, in order to improve efficiency in health care through the use of information and communications technologies. In particular, a federal electronic health record and a strategic management system are pursued. This project is supported by the Inter American Development Bank. The project has four lines of action: Specification, construction and implementation of the systems; Alignment through the use of standards; Cultural change through training and prototype systems; and Infrastructure. Short term results include a federal balanced scorecard, federal identification and authorization services, a terminology service, telemedicine applications and massive training of interdisciplinary teams at the local level. The importance of collaboration at the regional level and the advantages of having a multi-institutional commitment are stressed.