Terms Related to HIS
The following are terms used to describe a national health information system (HIS), or a specific system of a national HIS. Depending on the context, some of these terms may be used interchangeably and may not fit discrete categories.
Routine health information system (RHIS): RHIS refers to facility-based HIS that collect routine health information. These systems generate data collected at public and private health facilities and institutions, and at community-level healthcare posts and clinics—at regular intervals of a year at minimum. The data give a picture of health status, health services, and health resources. Most of the data are gathered by healthcare providers, by supervisors, and through routine health facility surveys. The sources of those data are generally individual health records, records of services delivered, and resource health records including financial, commodity, or laboratory records.
Health management information system (HMIS): The term HMIS is often used interchangeably with RHIS, though an HMIS may not include data on disease or health outcomes. An HMIS is a data collection system designed to support planning, management, and decision making in health facilities and organizations.
Community-based health information system (CHIS): A CHIS (sometimes written as CBIS) refers to data from a community (not clinical) health setting. Communities may be linked to a facility or a district.
Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS): A CRVS system registers births and deaths, issues birth and death certificates, and compiles and disseminates vital statistics, including cause-of-death information.
Electronic health management information system (eHMIS): An eHMIS is a facility-based data aggregation system usually used for public health-related decision making. An eHMIS is mainly used by public policy makers, health officers, researchers, planning departments of health offices, HMIS focal persons, data entry clerks, and many others, ranging from health facility to national management levels.
Financial management information system (FMIS): An FMIS supports the automation and integration of public financial management processes, including budget formulation, execution, accounting, and reporting.
Human resource information system (HRIS): An HRIS includes both the technology products that enable country governments and companies to manage their staffs and to the people, policies, procedures, and data necessary to make that management possible. These systems provide relevant, timely data that can be used to make human resource-related decisions.
Logistics management information system (LMIS): An LMIS collects data about essential medicines and commodities and enables use of this information for activities such as filling routine supply orders for health facilities.
Surveillance system: Surveillance refers to the ongoing collection of systematic data for use in planning, implementing, and evaluating public health policies and practices. For instance, a communicable disease surveillance system can provide early warnings of potential public health threats and support monitoring of disease.
