GP clinic heads to court to get clone of PMS data

eHealthNews.nz: Clinical Software

Tuesday, 2 April 2024

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

A marae-based GP clinic is going to the high court in order to get a clone of its patient data out of its practice management system (PMS).

Te Whare Hauora O Raungaiti Trust contracted with Health Support Systems (HSS) to start using the indici PMS in mid-2021.

Raungaiti Marae Health Clinic GP Rawiri McKree Jansen says they decided to end the contract and have been in discussions with HSS for 2.5 years to get a complete copy or ‘clone’ of their patient data so they can switch to a different PMS, but have now been forced to take HSS to court.

“It is surprising and distressing that we have an expectation that we can get our patient data out of our system and in this circumstance, it clearly has not happened,” he tells eHealthNews.

The clinic services a high needs Māori population and wants to access the National Hauora Coalition long term conditions programme ‘Mōhio’ platform, which extracts data for identifying people with diabetes.

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Jansen says use of this platform would deliver better care to patients, ensure funding is correctly allocated, and reassure doctors that they are identifying all patients in need of care, but they cannot take advantage of the tool with indici.

“That is a clear example of where this is impacting patient outcomes as we have patients with this condition and our PHO had a programme for us that we could not access because of our PMS,” Jansen says.

He says the GP2GP records transfer system is not suitable for when practices change providers and would involve the trust trying to fix the data themselves, potentially exposing them to corporate and commercial risk, as well as letting down patients.

“We would prefer have the industry standard which is to get a clone of the data,” he explains.

“This is literally data sovereignty as patients entrust this information to us and want to know we can retrieve their data.

“Our trustees are deeply concerned about that and want us to get our data back. We are just a tiny provider, and it is like a nightmare.”

HSS is a subsidiary of Pinnacle Ventures, which is part of the Pinnacle Group.

Chief executive of Pinnacle Group Justin Butcher says, “we take our contractual obligations very seriously and have been actively working with our PMS provider and the Trust towards a resolution.

“The data landscape can be complex, and clear industry standards are essential for efficient and secure data handling practices. We understand the importance of this and are actively involved in efforts to develop a national standard, which would ultimately benefit all stakeholders,” he says.

Ahmad Javad, managing director of Valentia Technologies, says moving data from one PMS to another is more complex than it seems and the company has invested significantly in developing a robust migration capability that has seen it successfully migrate a large number of medical practices to its indici PMS over recent years.

"It is critical that other PMS vendors make a similar investment should they wish to migrate data from a modern cloud-based PMS (such as indici) in an efficient and safe way,” he says.

"The current legal situation highlights the critical need for transparent communication and realistic expectations among all parties involved in a data migration process.

"The adoption of a universal data migration standard, as proposed under the Hira initiative, is crucial. This would allow (and compel) PMS vendors to develop standardised data exchange processes, facilitating smoother and more predictable data migrations industry-wide."

Ashwin Patel, a practising GP who developed the MyPractice PMS, has been in the industry 30 years and says the ongoing situation with Jansen’s clinic is the first he has heard of.

He says there were 23 systems in use when he started, which has now reduced to 3-4. During that time, practices have been able to move systems and take their data with them.

“There has been a very clear understanding that the notes belong to the practice and their patients, not the vendors,” he says.

“From our perspective, if you want to be in this business you have to learn how to play with the other players and work in a professional way.”

Picture: Raungaiti Marae Health Clinic GP Rawiri McKree Jansen