Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 required the urgent transformation of the Central Health Information System in Sarajevo Canton (CHIS) to successfully perform new emerged services in the health system. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to present the changes in CHIS in Sarajevo Canton that were necessary to improve the quality of health care of individuals suffering from COVID-19. Methods: All changes in the CHIS of the Sarajevo Canton were initiated in two directions: from users and from administrators. Proposals for refining, upgrades, and new functions were in the form of decisions, written and oral proposals. The final implementation of the proposals was approved by the owner of CHIS. The COVID-19 process of information technologies to digital transformation was based on the principle of ultimate informatization. Results: New modules for patient registration were designed in the Central Health Information System: Triage station, Call centre, and Covid clinics for the examination of cases suspected of COVID-19. New reports were made available: the number of tested persons, the number of positively tested for SARS-CoV-2, the number of examined persons with acute respiratory tract symptoms. the number of vaccinated persons, number of home isolation supervision services, number the COVID-19 diseases or deaths, COVID-19 test questionnaire, and epidemiological surveillance. Communication and exchange of relevant data between institutions involved in the treatment and follow-up of the patients with COVID-19 infection have been established and enabled. Conclusion: The functioning of the health system and the provision of COVID-19 services as well as the implementation of newly created mandatory measures would be difficult or even impossible without the rapid transformation of CHIS with all new modules and new functional connections among institutions involved.
Key words: Health Information Systems, Transformation, COVID-19 pandemic
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