Ilula-Minnesota International Medical Conferece

 

The Ilula-Minnesota International Medical Conference, held in Iringa, Tanzania, brought together doctors, nurses, pharmacists and administrators from southern Tanzania Christian hospitals and the U.S. to talk about healthcare advancements and share knowledge. Held over two days, attendees learned about a quality improvement model, tools, and advancements in specific healthcare practices. I’ll let one of the doctors in attendance describe the specific health care practices. In this blog, I’ll talk about the specifics related to administration.

The first day of the conference was all about the quality improvement model and learning about and using process improvement tools such as pareto, run and flow charts. Most participants were new to this methodology and tools. Key themes included keeping it simple, starting small and expanding, recognizing that all improvement requires change, and viewing all work as a process.

On the second day of the conference, I led a break-out session of the administrators – attended by approximately 30 individuals. In our break-out session, we discussed topics that were highly relevant to all the hospitals. Our topics were: competition, insurance denials, compliance with electronic medical records, new streams of revenue, customer care and quality improvement.

Competition

Competition is recent in Tanzania, especially the rural area. The government built health care facilities throughout the country, often close to existing faith-based health facilities. The facilities are new and fully staffed due to the government’s higher salaries and reported lax management style.

We discussed that faith-based facilities have a competitive advantage because the community trusts them, and they offer prayer to patients, families, and staff. We focused on using this new competition to improve care and service to the community. SafeCare is an internationally accredited standard for resource-restricted settings. As members of the Christian Social Services Commission, a SafeCare self-assessment tool is available free of charge to the hospitals. Many of them believe they will try this new tool.

New Revenue Streams

Participants shared examples of new revenue streams that they were exploring, like adding specialty doctor services, reducing the amount of denials from the claims submitted to the National Health Insurance Fund, and producing agricultural products like maize, trees, sunflowers, and goats. The discussion was especially welcome as the hospitals shared how they had worked to overcome pitfalls in beginning and operating these new ventures.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Ilula-Minnesota International Medical Conference provided a valuable platform for knowledge exchange, networking, and innovation, paving the way for a more collaborative and resilient global health community.

Cindy Wilke