Influence of Quality Health Information in the Formulation of Health Care Policy in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

ABSTRACTThe main focus of this study was to investigate the influence of quality health information in the formulation of health care policy in OAUTHC Ile-Ife. The study Examine the level of knowledge of health information management professionals to improve the quality of health information; Examine the Impact of quality health information on the of healthcare policy formulation and Identify the challenges and barriers associated with leveraging quality health information in healthcare policy formulation.The study adopted a descriptive survey design in which structured questionnaire were use for data collection. The target population was 120 staff of OAUTHC, Ife Hospital unit that sampled One hundred (120) respondents using total enumeration. One hundred (120) questionnaires were administered and One hundred (100) questionnaires were retrieved and the response rate achieved was 83.3%. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and simple percentages with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. The study revealed that 100 (100.0%) agreed that health information management professional, prevent data breaches and ensure patient privacy, even more than 90% of the respondents agreed to the fact continuous education and training have impact on knowledge and skills of health information management professionals in data quality improvement. Almost all the respondents 95% agreed that engaging with patients and others healthcare providers improved data accuracy and completeness in OAUTHC, Ile-Ife. Also majority of the respondents 99% of the respondents depicted that technological advancement in health information management contribute to better data quality. The study concluded that that data accuracy and reliability help in shaping healthcare policy decisions. Therefore, recommends that, the hospital management should provide education and training programs for policymakers and health professionals on how to critically evaluate health information and Implement mechanisms for continual evaluation of health policies to assess their effectiveness and impact on health outcomes.