Challenges

In Egypt, health services are delivered by a multitude of public service providers (the ministry of Health (MOH), ministries of Higher Education, Defense, the Interior, etc.), the Health Insurance Organization (HIO), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and an expanding network of private practitioners and medical facilities. Even though presence of multiple providers could imply competitive services, in reality, there is very limited, or no performance assessment mechanisms or quality assurance of the services provided. All proposed or attempted solutions for healthcare quality monitor were highly dependent on governments and authorities.

Toward a Solution

To address this challenge, in 2012, Shamseya for innovative community healthcare solutions, established Eghospitals.com. It is a website that serves as a community monitor of health service provision in Egypt. The objective of this initiatives to promote social accountability, help health care seekers make informed  decisions about the quality of care they are seeking, and hold healthcare providers accountable for their services.  Additionally, assessments are not only conducted by the healthcare seekers but also by  trained community members.

The implementation of this initiative was conducted through the following steps:

• A field research was conducted, resulting in the creation of a set patient-centered performance appraisal indicators and measures that were later compared to international standards and assembled in 116 standardized assessments criteria.
• Developed a smartphone assessment tool that accommodates these criteria and displays them to the assessor in a user-friendly interface.
• 15 training sessions that yielded 165 active, trained community assessors.

Through this portal, detailed information on the service quality provided in Egyptian hospitals and other health facilities becomes easily accessible to the For each published score, three appraisals are carried out in parallel by independent community assessors. Also, website viewers are allowed to enter their personal feedback on the website or request that a specific hospital be assessed, both of which reduces the possibility of bias and encourages citizens to participate in promoting social accountability in the Egyptian context. The criteria, according to which assessments take place, were generated following extensive field research involving medical staff and patients, to ensure that important determinants of health service quality are covered. Finally, a document including the results is validated and approved by all local networks.

To date, the project has achieved the followings:

• 80 hospitals have been assessed throughout Egypt covering Cairo, Giza, Matrouh,the Red Sea area, Aswan, Luxor, Qena, Sohag, Assiut, Minia.
• Designed and developed the online portal www.eghospitals.com displaying the assessment criteria and results to the public and a back-end interface for data entry.
• Designed and developed a mobile application Mostashfa Meter displaying the assessment results and providing extra services for mobile users including calling the closest hospital and ordering the closest ambulance to the user’s location
• Validated, analyzed and published 75 hospital profiles on the web portal.
• Partnered with 33 local NGOs in all the covered areas and governorates.
• Partnered with Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) as a national governmental partner.
• A field research was conducted, resulting in the creation of a set patient-centered performance appraisal indicators and measures that were later compared to international standards and assembled in 116 standardized assessments criteria.
• Active social media accounts with a sustained growth plan, displaying and promoting the website and the hospital assessment results.