Kenya ePrescription FHIR Implementation Guide
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Background

Background

Regulatory and Policy Context

Kenya Digital Health Act and ePrescription Policy

The Kenya Digital Health Act (2023) mandates the digitisation of health records across all licensed health facilities, including the transition from paper-based to electronic prescriptions. The Kenya ePrescription Implementation Guide operationalises this mandate by providing a standardised FHIR-based data model for electronic prescriptions across the national health system.

The Ministry of Health's ePrescription policy requires:

  • All Level 3 and above facilities to generate electronic prescriptions by 2026.
  • Prescriptions to be transmitted through the national Health Information Exchange (HIE) operated by the Digital Health Agency (DHA).
  • Pharmacies to record dispenses electronically and link them to the originating prescription on the HIE.

Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB)

The PPB regulates all pharmaceutical products marketed in Kenya. This IG uses PPB-maintained code systems for:

  • Generic Products (GenericProductsCS) — the national drug register for medicinal products.
  • Active Components (ActiveComponentsCS) — active pharmaceutical ingredients.
  • Formulations (FormulationCS) — dosage form classifications.
  • Routes of Administration (RouteOfAdministrationCS) — standard administration routes.

Social Health Authority (SHA) / NHIF

The Social Health Authority (previously NHIF) manages national health insurance claims. The ePrescription system integrates with SHA through:

  • Pre-authorization — high-cost or controlled-substance prescriptions may require an SHA pre-authorization number, captured using the InsurancePreAuthorizationExtension.
  • Claims — dispensed medications are referenced in Claim resources submitted by pharmacies for reimbursement.

Standards Alignment

FHIR R4

This IG is based on HL7 FHIR Release 4 (R4, version 4.0.1). All profiles, extensions, CodeSystems, and ValueSets are expressed in FHIR Shorthand (FSH) and compiled by SUSHI.

Terminology

Code System Authority Use
PPB GenericProducts Kenya PPB / OCL Medication codes (MedicationRequest, MedicationDispense, Medication)
PPB ActiveComponents Kenya PPB / OCL Allergen and ingredient codes
PPB Formulation Kenya PPB / OCL Dosage form (Medication.form)
PPB Route of Administration Kenya PPB / OCL Route codes
SNOMED CT SNOMED International Clinical findings, body sites, procedures
LOINC Regenstrief Institute Observation and laboratory codes
ICD-10 WHO Diagnosis codes
UCUM Unified Code for Units of Measure Quantities and units

Open Concept Lab (OCL)

Kenya MOH terminology is managed in the Open Concept Lab (OCL) instance hosted at https://ilm-hie.dha.go.ke/ocl/. ValueSets are retrieved via the OCL API and are referenced in this IG using the https://ilm-hie.dha.go.ke/fhir/ namespace.

Master Facility List (MFL)

Each health facility is identified by its Master Facility List (MFL) code, issued by the Ministry of Health. MFL codes are used as the primary Organization.identifier throughout this IG. The MFL is maintained at https://kmhfr.health.go.ke/ and is synchronised with the national HIE.

National Identification

Patients are primarily identified by their Kenya National ID number, issued by the National Registration Bureau. For minors, the parent/guardian ID or birth certificate number is used. The NamingSystem https://ilm-hie.dha.go.ke/fhir/NamingSystem/national-id is the authoritative identifier system.

Privacy and Security

All data exchanged through this IG is subject to:

  • Kenya Data Protection Act (2019) — personal health information is classified as sensitive personal data.
  • OAuth 2.0 / SMART on FHIR — all API clients must authenticate using tokens issued by the national HIE identity provider.
  • TLS 1.2+ — all data in transit must be encrypted.
  • Audit Logging — every prescription creation, update, and dispense event must be logged in an AuditEvent resource.

Relationship to Other Kenya FHIR IGs

IG Relationship
Kenya Patient Summary IG MedicationStatement records from this IG populate the patient's medication summary
Kenya eClaims IG MedicationDispense records are referenced in SHA pharmacy claims
Kenya Laboratory IG Morphology and diagnostic results referenced by oncology care plans

Glossary

Term Definition
CPOE Computerised Physician Order Entry — a clinical system for electronic prescribing
DHA Digital Health Agency — operator of the national HIE
EMR Electronic Medical Record
HIE Health Information Exchange — the national interoperability platform
KMPDC Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council
MFL Master Facility List — national registry of health facilities
NPI National Provider Identifier
OCL Open Concept Lab — terminology management platform
PPB Pharmacy and Poisons Board — regulatory authority for pharmaceuticals
SHA Social Health Authority (successor to NHIF)
SUSHI Software Unit to Support FHIR IGs — FSH compiler