3 min read · Planning guide
Planning & implementation decisions
How should a facility evaluate administrative and clinical software separately?
Use separate acceptance owners and demonstrations for administrative and clinical functions. A working billing screen is not evidence of clinical suitability. This worksheet covers procurement and operational assessment; qualified facility stakeholders must validate clinical requirements.
| Scope | Reviewer | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Registration and billing | Operations and finance | Task completion, corrections and reconciliation |
| Clinical workflows | Qualified facility clinical stakeholders | Function-specific validation and exception cases |
| External interfaces | Institutional integration owner | Current interface approval and test evidence |
| Access and recovery | Security and operations owners | Role tests, restoration and reconciliation rehearsal |
- Step 1 →
Define scopes
Separate clinical, administrative and integration requirements.
- Step 2 →
Demonstrate
Use authorized sample tasks and exception cases.
- Step 3
Validate and accept
Each accountable reviewer signs off their own scope.
Exception & recovery path
An unverified clinical function or unavailable external interface remains an explicit gap, rather than being inferred from a general product demonstration.
What should the billing demonstration include?
Trace a sample charge through authorization, payment and reconciliation. Test a correction and an unmatched receipt. Request separate evidence for any insurer or authority interface, including current specifications and institutional access requirements.
How do you evaluate access and downtime readiness?
Ask for role-based access demonstrations, audit history and a rehearsal of the facility’s agreed downtime and recovery process. Use appropriately authorized test data. Agree which records are essential during an outage and how restored records will be reconciled.
Who should sign off a hospital system?
Assign administrative, finance, technical and qualified clinical reviewers to their own scopes. Document unresolved dependencies, migration evidence, staff training, restoration tests and support escalation. Procurement review does not establish legal or clinical compliance.
Take this into your project discussion
- Function / administrative or clinical scope / owner: ____________________
- Task / expected outcome / evidence / unresolved gap: ____________________
- Interface specification / authorization / test status: ____________________
- Role tests / downtime plan / restoration evidence: ____________________
- Migration / training / support / sign-off: ____________________
Planning content reviewed . Confirm current provider requirements and project-specific assumptions before implementation.
1. Map the Patient and Staff Journey
Start from registration and intake through consultations, diagnostic services, pharmacy, billing and follow-up where those functions are required. Identify which team owns each record and where a delay, duplicate entry or missing status causes practical problems.
2. Distinguish Administrative from Clinical Modules
Patient registration, financial reporting and billing are not proof that a platform is a complete clinical HMIS. Ask vendors to demonstrate each clinical and administrative function separately and require qualified facility stakeholders to validate clinical workflows.
3. Design Billing, Claims and Payment Workflows
Document charge creation, adjustments, payment confirmation, account reconciliation and reports. Integration with health authorities, insurers or external services requires the correct current specifications and institutional authorization.
4. Plan Confidentiality, Access and Audit Controls
Healthcare information is sensitive. Define staff roles, access restrictions, data retention, audit logs, transfer methods, consent or other applicable legal bases, and escalation steps for incidents. Review obligations under relevant Kenyan law with qualified advisers.
5. Evaluate Migration and Continuity
Facilities need arrangements for historic data quality, testing, downtime windows, staff training and support. Ask what happens when a system or integration is unavailable and how staff continue critical operations.
6. Ask for Evidence, Not Just Features
Request demonstrations that mirror your facility’s workflows. Separate features already implemented from configuration, custom development and future plans. Verify deployment references, hosting responsibilities, security claims and ongoing maintenance terms.
Frequently asked questions
Is hospital billing the same as a complete HMIS?
No. A full HMIS may include clinical, laboratory, pharmacy and other workflows that require separate verification.
Can existing hospital systems be integrated?
Where appropriate APIs and privacy permissions exist, integration can be assessed during discovery.