Health Information Systems, eHealth Strategy, and the Management of Health Records

Abstract

South Africa's health sector faces two main transformation challenges: inequity and a legacy of fragmentation. This chapter traces the history of health policy development in the country in seven phases from the 17th century to the present time. It describes the efforts in transformation made through the promulgation of the National Health Act in 2003 and the eHealth Strategy in 2012. The chapter explores the utility of maturity assessment in assessing whether transformation goals through an analysis of five maturity models: Digital Preservation Capability maturity model, eHealth maturity model, Enterprise Content Management maturity model, Health Normative Standards Framework maturity model, and Records Management Capacity Assessment System. South Africa is already using two of the five models demonstrating that is not just reliant on technology but has developed strategies and principles to guide the transformation process. The chapter argues for more expansive adoption of maturity assessment to cover the full records lifecycle.