Progress on nHIP

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The national Health Information Platform programme business case is being considered by the Government.

“If approved we will have made the case for change and investment and we will then be seeking money in tranches,” deputy director-general data and digital Shayne Hunter said at the Auckland Digital Health Summit in Auckland on March 26.

The programme as first envisaged has been delayed by 12 months due to the impact of Covid-19, but good progress has been made and with budget approval the Ministry of Health plans to start work in earnest from the middle of this year.

Hunter told attendees that the health system needs a mindset shift from seeing IT as a cost, to an enabler for system change and better health and wellbeing outcomes. It will be important for the coming reforms to the health system. 

“We need to invest in basic digital maturity as a fundamental enabler for some of the health system reforms. The case is going through the process and will hopefully be approved in the next budget,” he told attendees.

“We can’t have organisations that don’t have the basics in place to be a digital health system.”

Ministry of Health group manager digital strategy and investment Darren Douglass previously liken nHIP to the ecosystem of data and digital services that enable the navigation service used to in cars and on mobile phones. 

Data and digital services that are standards based and interoperable can enable the health system to help patients navigate a path, find services and provide access to information in a personalised way.

It does not involve creating a central data repository, but “will have the ability to assemble a virtual electronic record on an ‘as required’ basis from multiple trusted sources, and provide access to data and services,” he told eHealthNews.nz.

The first tranche of the platform is expected to take 2.5 years, running from 2021-2023.

Cabinet has also been considering the Health System Agreements and Payments programme business case for potential inclusion in the 2021 Budget.

Hunter said these are vital systems, with $100 million - $390 million a week managed through the current systems. The last attempt to make significant upgrades was in 2006.

A Data and Digital Update from the Ministry of Health says the aim of the programme is to “introduce much needed change to the current sector agreements and payments model, ensuring processes and systems to manage provider payments are simpler, easier and able to be paid in a more timely and efficient way”.

“We have embarked on a transformation initiative that sets a course away from the current legacy agreements and payments system to one that responds to the changing needs of the sector and New Zealanders, and will address the upcoming recommendations of the current Health and Disability System Review,” it says.

“If approved, the following three years will see the programme completely revamp these processes and systems, delivering more stability, flexibility and improved data sources to the benefit of the entire sector.”

Picture: Deputy director general data and digital Shayne Hunter

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