Hira to be aligned to govt priorities

eHealthNews.nz: National Systems & Strategy

Tuesday, 30 April 2024

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The data and digital team at Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora is working to ensure Hira activities post-June align with government priorities.

Health NZ manager technology enablers Gerard Keenan discusses the future of Hira and what it has achieved so far in the latest episode of HiNZ podcast series, eHealthTalk.

He says that as the key delivery date for tranche one (30 June 2024) approaches and new capabilities are released, interest and focus is shifting to what is next.

Hira services and functionality were to be delivered progressively through regular releases across three tranches of work through to the end of 2026.

Keenan says the data and digital team is working to ensure Hira activities post-June align with government priorities and more information about 2024/ 2025 funding and direction is expected soon.
 
The first tranche of work has primarily delivered “foundation stones”, he tells eHealthTalk.
 
An interoperability layer has been developed, comprising APIs and standards designed to support the vendor community in enhancing their own products and services. These are available via Hira Marketplace.

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Work is currently underway on the Digital Services Hub which will be launched in coming months. The Digital Services Hub is the next iteration of Marketplace and will provide a broader range of services.

The team is also delivering a personal summary health record, based on the International Patient Summary, via My Health Record.
 
Release 1 is scheduled for the end of June, but the first iteration was released in December and more than 70,000 people have used it to date.
 
“We have done two updates since then and we have another two coming that are gradually building on that capability to get us to our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) state,” he says.
 
The team is also building a summary health record for clinicians.

Keenan says this will be particularly valuable when clinicians are seeing patients outside of their normal environment, such as out of hours care, and will be available via an API in their clinical applications or as a web viewer for health professionals who do not have an electronic patient management system.
 
Underpinning these products is the development of a digital identity for health, with three million Kiwis now verified via My Health Account, which was developed during the pandemic.
 
“Verified identities are really important as we want to ensure that we understand who is accessing information,” he explains.
 
There are around 20 companies onboarded or looking to onboard to My Health Account to enhance their services, such as patient portal provider Manage My Health.
 
A new National Events Management Service (NEMS) has also gone live and will mean people only need to update their records once and these will be seamlessly integrated across various healthcare systems.
 
“That's really important for assisting the free flow and effective disbursement of information to approved parties within the sector,” Keenan says.

Listen to episode 44 of eHealthTalk NZ – Hira: now and into the future, wherever you get your podcasts.