Measurable increase in telehealth expected with national health service

eHealthNews.nz: National Systems & Strategy

Measurable increase in telehealth expected with national health service

Monday, 4 July 2022

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

A priority of the newly reformed health sector is to expand access to digital models of care and the number of appointments delivered via digital channels will be monitored over the next two years.

One of the 28 progress measures identified in the interim Government Policy Statement on Health (iGPS) is the “proportion of medical appointments completed through digital channels”.

This will initially be for hospital outpatients appointments and will expand to include GP appointments when data is available, it says.

Ruth Large, chair of the NZ Telehealth Leadership Group, says early indications from the NZ Telehealth Forum's third telehealth survey are that standard coding and agreed terminology is not fully implemented across the country and this will be crucial in measuring activity and outcomes.

"Supporting good data gathering and upskilling the health workforce in digital literacy will be important precursors," she says.

"The telehealth forum is working alongside the Ministry to provide a dashboard of telehealth activity and for this to be meaningful it is vital that we have great data collected."

The government statement says Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ and Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority will deliver a roadmap for expanding access to digital models of support to keep people well in their communities.

This roadmap will include a strong digital inclusions component and an investment strategy for data and digital development.

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In his foreword, Health Minister Andrew Little says one of the five key shifts he expects to see in the health system is that digital services and technology will provide more care in people’s homes and communities.

“Building on the progress digital services made during the COVID-19 response, the health sector will harness technology to provide more options for people and whānau to access safe, high-quality and convenient digital health services. Better data systems mean we are better informed and able to respond more effectively,” he says.

This is reflected in priority three of the statement, which is to keep people well in their communities and one of the objectives of this priority is to expand access to digital models of care.

“Digital models of care will focus on improving access to high-quality health services from anywhere, empowering consumers to take control of their own health and connecting providers,” it says.

“Specifically, agencies will work to improve access to digital consumer engagement channels and the digital enablement of Māori and Pacific providers, including through the locality prototypes.”

Priority five is around ensuring a financially sustainable health sector and says a key part of meeting this challenge will be working in collaboration across the social, economic, commercial, environmental and digital sectors to address the determinants of health and wellbeing.

It specifically highlights that investment includes data and digital infrastructure and says investing now to realise future benefits is a critical part of achieving value for money and financial sustainability.

“During the two-year transition period entities are expected to implement strong, integrated planning processes, including a medium-term plan for managing cost pressures and building resilience. A central part of this will be integrating service and infrastructure planning (including data and digital infrastructure),” the roadmap says.

Priority six is ‘laying the foundations for the ongoing success of the health sector’ and identifies opportunities in testing new digitally enabled ways of working.

One of the objectives of this priority is to improve the use of health information for people and communities

“The health sector will continue the development of Hira, the national health information platform, to support accessible and actionable data and information for whānau, and to enable innovation across the health sector,” it says.

“People and their whānau will lead their own health journeys with improved access to their health information and support to navigate the system.”

The statement says this will include co-designing approaches that honour Māori data sovereignty.

“Health entities will ensure that health data and insights, including patient-reported information, are used to inform decisions and action, to monitor progress and inform quality improvement. The ability for all entities in the health sector – Crown and nongovernmental organisations – to gather, evaluate and act on insights is essential for continuous performance improvement.”