MINISTRY OF HEALTH

HEALTH CARE NETWORK STRENGTHENING (IDB GY-L1080) TERMS OF REFERENCE

Digital Health Lead (Director of Digital Health)

Background

The Government of Guyana has received Loan funding by the Inter-American Development Bank to implement a Health Care Network and Strengthening in Guyana. The general objective of the Project is to improve the health of the Guyanese population through increased access, quality, and efficiency of health services.

Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of the Project are to: (i) expand and rationalize specialized hospital care in an integrated health services network approach; (ii) extend coverage of diagnostic, medical consultation, and patient management services, inclusive of the country’s hinterlands, through digital health; and (iii) strengthen key logistic, management, and support processes and inputs for health services delivery.

To achieve these objectives, the project will be implemented through the following components:

• Component 1. Supporting hospital health services networks
• Component 2. Strengthening digital health
• Component 3. Promoting health sector management and efficiency
• Component 4: Administration and Project monitoring and evaluation

The expected impact of the Project is the improved access, use, and quality of health services in Guyana. In this regard, the project will support interventions that will: (i) increase the number of consultations and exams provided at the primary level of care; (ii) increase referrals to district and regional hospitals for consultations, exams and/or procedures that require a more specialized level of care; (iii) increase access to radiology and ophthalmology services; and (iv) ensure the continuous availability of key medicines, inputs, and supplies in health facilities.

The beneficiaries of the Project are the citizens of Guyana. It is estimated that approximately 50% of the Guyanese population will have greater access to clinical and diagnostic services while the population will benefit from higher quality health care.

The Project is executed by the Ministry of Healthis scheduled for implementation over a five (5) year period effective from the date the Loan contract is signed by the Government of Guyana.

The Project will be implemented through a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the Health Sector Development Unit (HSDU) of the Ministry of Health. The PIU will have overall technical and administrative responsibility for all matters relating to the Project and direct responsibility for the administration of financial resources, and procurement processes, including social and environmental safeguards necessary for Project execution and for maintaining all formal communication with the Bank. Among other responsibilities, the PIU will oversee:

1. Performing technical and operational coordination of the Project’s Components.
2. Programming, approving and financing all Project activities.
3. Supervising the formulation, execution, and evaluation of all interventions.
   1. Ensuring the achievement of outputs and outcomes through the monitoring of key indicators.
   2. Planning and procuring all the services and goods necessary to carry out Project execution.
      1. Preparing Terms of Reference, tendering and procurements of goods, construction works, services and consultancies.
4. Ensuring that the Project, and all project components, meet with the environmental and social requirements established in the ESMP, including semiannual compliance reporting.
5. Contract Administration and Contract Management.

1. Preparing and updating the Pluri-Annual Execution Plan, Annual Operational Plan (AOP), Procurement Plan (PP), Risk Matrix (RM), and the Progress Monitoring Report (PMR) via the corresponding mechanisms or software.
2. Submitting disbursement requests and preparing financial statements.
3. Contracting and supervising both mid-term and final Project evaluation exercises.

Job Description

As part of the PIU, a Digital Health Lead will be hired to oversee Component 2 of the Project. This individual should have a demonstrated capacity to manage large projects, with multi-disciplinary components, multi-disciplinary collaborations, and a sophisticated understanding of the role of information systems in a healthcare delivery and public health entrepreneurship. In addition, this individual should have an appreciation for the challenges of information systems personnel development in a highly competitive global IT environment.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Leading the Digital Health Programme of the Ministry of Health.
  • Leading the development of a renewed strategic plan for digital health under the direction of the Ministry of Health, national digital health governance committee that addresses design requirements, governance, legislation and policy, sustainability and resource mobilization, information technology solutions and infrastructure, information management and human resources.
  • Conduct additional and/or review existing national digital health assessments and provide feedback to the MOH/ national digital health governance committee on best-practice design of digital health systems and services based on the national roadmap for digitalization of the Health System.
  • Providing strategic advice and leadership to the MOH related to information systems for health (IS4H)¹ strategic and technical enablers to improve the efficiency, efficacy and safety of both clinical and business processes, and to improve the availability of quality information to support clinical, program and policy decision-making.
  • Overseeing the design and implementation of a national IS4H technical and information architecture that will enable MOH’s vision of interoperable health information systems, in collaboration with MOH and government leadership, and other national and international stakeholders.

¹ Information Systems for Health (IS4H) is a digital health framework developed by Pan-American Health Organization and adopted by Inter-American Development Bank as the framework to guide digital health design and delivery. More information can be found at https://www3.paho.org/ish/index.php/en/.

• Overseeing and managing the portfolio of IS4H projects and developing implementation and project plans for a range of strategic and tactical initiatives as defined in the renewed IS4H Strategic Plan.
• Developing performance measures and metrics for projects and initiatives.
• Developing and maintaining a stakeholder engagement plan for the IS4H program.
  • Liaising and representing the digital health component with senior government officials, funders, and international partners.
  • Supporting a national digital health governance committee and other working groups in coordination and facilitation meetings (e.g., developing the agenda, ensure recording of minutes etc.).
  • Preparing routine performance and progress reports to MOH leadership, the national digital health governance committee and funders.
  • Facilitating regular project planning and status meetings.
    • Managing the procurement of hardware, software and services based on identified requirements, including requests for proposals or tenders, and reviewing contracts and service level agreements.
    • Guide the preparation and maintenance of project management documentation, including the digital health component charter, budgets, schedules, resource plans, risk and issues plans, and other management related deliverables.
    • Coordinate and supervise administrative, technical and communication activities necessary for the successful implementation of the project.
    • Plan activities with stakeholders, partners and NGOs aimed at increasing digital health literacy among the health workforces.
    • Support development of materials on digital health for public information, relations and engagement (conferences, speeches, social media, communications, website management etc.);
    • Perform other duties as assigned by the Ministry of Health as relates to the Digital Health.
      • Minimum of BSc. in Health Administration, Digital Health, Computer Science, Health Informatics, Software Engineering, Data Science or any other related relevant discipline. Master’s degree preferred.
      • Minimum of 5 years of experience in a senior leadership role in the health or governmental sector in the context of planning, executing and administration.
      • Demonstrated knowledge of the health sector and health service delivery processes.
      • Understanding of national digital health policies and legislation.
        • Experience managing stakeholder relationships with senior representatives from governmental, non-governmental, and private-sector organizations
        • Demonstrated knowledge of the selection/tendering process for digital health software, hardware and services e.g., request for proposals, contract and service level agreement administration.
        • Experience overseeing teams of technical and non-technical personnel
          • Experience in development of materials on digital health for public information, relations and engagement (conferences, speeches, social media, communications, website management etc.).
          • Experience in preparing and maintaining project management documentation, including budgets, schedules, resource plans, risk and issues plans relating to digital health.
          • Experience in strategic planning, managing and implementing health information initiatives such as electronic medical health records, referral systems, telehealth applications e.g. radiology and ophthalmology solutions.
          • Experience in assessing digital health systems, health information systems, collecting data and writing assessment reports.
          • Familiarity with health informatics and interoperability standards (ICD-10, HL7, FHIR, IHE, LOINC, etc.) is an asset.
          • Familiarity with web/internet application standards, hardware and software technologies is an asset
          • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
          • Ability to uphold ethical standards, use one’s initiative and be proactive.
            • The duration of the contract is one year subjected to renewal upon satisfactory performance and willingness of the person engaged to renewal of Contract.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience