Clearhead, a Kiwi digital mental health company has today launched its expanded website offering in partnership with TSB Bank, designed to help people who are supporting others with their mental health to be better support people.

With Christmas fast approaching at the end of what’s been a challenging year for many, Clearhead is proud to be launching an extension to its digital mental wellbeing platform.

Since their 2018 launch, Clearhead’s website and app has been offering a private virtual wellbeing assistant to help improve New Zealanders access to mental health support and empower all Kiwis to proactively maintain their wellbeing. Clearhead supports people in gaining self-awareness and vital insights surrounding their mental health by providing personalised recommendations through its artificial intelligence chatbot.

However, up to 30% of users who visit the website and app go there looking for help on how to support their loved ones, instead of themselves. That’s why from today, the intuitive chatbot support tool which has been built by New Zealand doctors, will also provide a service for Kiwis looking for guidance on how to support their family and friends who are having a tough time.

Clearhead co-founder and CEO Dr Angela Lim says for Kiwis struggling with mental health challenges, having the right help from the people closest to you, makes a huge difference for managing your mental illness.

“We all want to help the people we love, we often just don’t know how to do that, so from today Clearhead can be the one stop shop for New Zealanders to get the information and guidance they need to feel empowered and ready to help when a loved one is struggling.

People who are struggling will be able to nominate a loved one to support them and together they can complete a suicide safety plan which reduces the burden of problem-solving when a crisis is looming and the ability to think clearly is impaired. 

“These plans are a reminder of cherished memories, simple pleasures that give comfort, and people who care and can be counted on to respond when needed.”

Dr Lim says the team has worked hard to launch this new Clearhead support person platform as quickly as possible at a time when Kiwis are seeking out more support than normal due to the effects of COVID-19.

“Since COVID-19 took hold in New Zealand in March, Clearhead has seen a sixfold increase in usage.”

“2020 has been a tough year for everyone, and when you add in the traditional festive season stresses, we’re expecting December and January to be a particularly busy period for Clearhead, so we’re thrilled we could get this new service up and running in time,” says Dr Lim.

“We couldn’t have done that without the support of TSB who provided us with a $30,000 TSB Good Stuff grant in September which meant we had the funds to get this live far sooner than would have been possible otherwise.

Clearhead is a social enterprise with a social mission to help as many people in New Zealand as possible to get the mental health support they need. This new addition to the website and app means every New Zealander will be supported to play their part in improving our country’s mental health outcomes.

TSB CEO Donna Cooper says as an organisation that’s committed to supporting New Zealanders, backing
Clearhead to build its mental health support person platform was an easy decision.

“As a Bank, our people have been at the forefront of supporting Kiwis through some really tough financial challenges this year, so our team is incredibly proud to get behind Clearhead’s work which will help get better outcomes for many New Zealanders in need.”

Source: Clearhead media release, 7 December 2020

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InterSystems, a creative data technology provider dedicated to helping customers solve the most critical scalability, interoperability, and speed problems, today announced the availability of the latest version of the InterSystems HealthShare® suite of connected health solutions. Designed to improve overall value and accessibility of unified healthcare data, HealthShare 2020.2 is the formal release of product enhancements that have been made throughout 2020 in direct response to the changing healthcare landscape and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients, providers, and payers need unimpeded health data sharing capabilities now more than ever. Through the application of HealthShare 2020.2, users can take advantage of InterSystems expanded HL7® FHIR® API capabilities to deliver “data liquidity” with connection to services such as Apple Health.

Expanded data coverage and FHIR R4 APIs for clinical, payment, and provider directory data included in the release provide the underpinning for the recently announced HealthShare CMS Solution Pack, which gives customers full data and application support to address the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule. The InterSystems healthcare data model maps to FHIR profiles from CARIN Alliance’s Blue Button 2.0 implementation guide, and supports the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) v1 standards and Da Vinci Patient Data Exchange (PDex) Plan-Net standard for search and retrieval.

With expanded analytics and enhanced clinician and patient portals, clinical, health plan and pharmacy benefits, data are now more actionable and readily usable across the health ecosystem. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release includes COVID-19 analytics dashboards, while the Clinical Viewer adds dedicated COVID-19 test status icons and chart options for clinicians, enabling care teams to more seamlessly track and monitor COVID-19 patients.

“Healthy, clean data is the most powerful tool in the healthcare arsenal,” said Don Woodlock, vice president of Healthcare Solutions at InterSystems. “Access to information greatly improves the overall care experience – from the patient, provider, and payer perspective. HealthShare 2020.2 is a culmination of all that we’ve learned this year and proactively developed with our partners and customers to ensure data is available when and where it is needed.”

In conjunction with HealthShare 2020.2, InterSystems is announcing the general availability of its Care Community care coordination solution in the United Kingdom. The product was developed in conjunction with the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Program (STP) to support a joined-up health and social care model.

Source: Intersystems media release, 25 November 2020

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More than 1100 people will move around the Rotorua suburb of Ngongotahā this week with a new and vital accessory – a COVID contact tracing card.

The cards go “live” on Monday 9 November and are a key part of an on-the-ground trial of the technology and its potential enhancement of the COVID contact tracing process.

Co-designed by Te Arawa COVID Hub, the Ministry of Health and the Universities of Otago and Waikato, the trial’s purpose is to understand how a COVID contact tracing card works in a real-world scenario, whether it is compatible with New Zealand’s contact tracing systems, and if people will accept and use them.

Monty Morrison, from the Te Arawa COVID-19 Response Hub, says the response to the trial has been overwhelming.

“It’s humbling to see so many people in our community recognise how important this trial is and who want to contribute to Aotearoa’s fight against COVID-19.

“We are eager to get the trial underway and recognise that this next stage is a crucial one. We remind whānau to wear the card everywhere they go, so that we can get as many contacts as possible and help ensure the accuracy of the trial,” he says.

A COVID contact tracing card can be worn on a lanyard or clipped to the wearer’s belt. It exchanges signals with anyone nearby who is also wearing a contact tracing card, in what can be described as “a digital handshake”. People involved in the trial should only take the tracing card off when at home.

People who live and/or work in Ngongotahā still have the opportunity to sign up to the trial, with registrations closing at on Monday 9 November.

Trial participants can register online at https://tearawacovid19.nz/card-trial/ and pick up their cards from 172 Ngongotahā Rd (next to the Gull Service Station). Participants will need to wear their cards from Monday 9 November until the end of Sunday 15 November.

So far, the majority of people who have signed up to the trial are women aged between 40 and 74.

A COVID contact tracing card is not capable of tracking the wearer’s location or identity and the information is fully contained, encrypted and protected on each individual card. Its primary function is to build a memory of contacts so the wearer can be quickly alerted if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19

Ngongotahā was selected as an ideal location for the trial because it’s big enough to have several marae, a school, shops and communities, and small enough that 1500 people is a significant percentage of the population.

Source: Te Arawa COVID-19 Response Hub media release 8 November 2020

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Medical IT Advisors’ cybersecurity service, CyberShield, has been launched to protect healthcare organisations against the rising number of cyberattacks and is being offered free for the first four months.

Medical IT Advisors director Faustin Roman says the DNS Firewall is a low-touch low-cost security solution that does not require any hardware or software, just a small configuration change to get protected against spyware threats and phishing attacks.

CyberShield is specifically designed for the healthcare sector by monitoring attacks against healthcare organisations and warning others about them.

Faustin says New Zealand organisations have experienced a high volume of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in recent weeks and CERTNZ has issued an advisory regarding an increased rate of phishing. These threats are part of a growing business cybersecurity risk from Covid-19 vaccine themed attacks and business email compromise to phishing from trusted domains and plain website hacking.

CyberShield leverages Medical IT Advisors’ NZ Health Threat Intelligence Sharing Platform, launched at the beginning of the year and the only one of its kind in New Zealand, which provides visibility of the thousands of attacks on Kiwi healthcare organisations every day. 

The platform provides a type of ‘herd immunity’ as once a threat has been identified in one organisation, it can be added to the platform and synchronised to ‘immunise’ all other users against it, Faustin explains.

CyberShield.NZ managed security service is based on the partnership and infrastructure provided by InternetNZ for the Defenz DNS Firewall. The goal of the partnership is to improve the healthcare cybersecurity with the adoption of the service across the sector.

InternetNZ commercial director David Morrison says after launching Defenz late last year, they realised the value of adding local threat feeds such as the NZ Health Threat Intelligence Sharing Platform.

“The health sector holds a lot of sensitive personal data and we are seeing a rise in cyber activity, particularly over this Covid-19 period. Any organisation that holds high value data should be thinking of themselves as a target and protecting themselves from attack,” he says.

“The reality is this is only going to increase and it’s really easy to set-up this extra layer of security.”

NZ Health IT chief executive Scott Arrol says the industry body supports the initiative as he believes there needs to be a far greater focus on cybersecurity. 

“This is a battlefield that’s fast becoming a war,” he says.

The CyberShield subscription includes onboarding and incident response service, which means attacks are monitored and blocked, users are alerted and if necessary, Medical IT Advisors will provide immediate advice on how to respond.

Faustin believes it is important for the health sector to work together against bad actors online and with four months free, why would you not try it?

Source: Medical IT Advisors, Internet NZ and NZHIT media release, 15 September 2020

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Healthcare communication challenges have always been present. Disconnect between providers, medical records, patients, on call schedules, messaging platforms, employee directories, call centers and code procedures were in many cases just the way things were, especially for hospitals and healthcare systems who weren’t willing to spend the time and money to create an integrated communication environment.

This level of healthcare communication disconnect has a severe trickledown effect that can be costly in a variety of ways such as when a code procedure is initiated; if there is no integration with a patient’s medical record, an on-call schedule, and the appropriate messaging procedures to facilitate that code, the loss of productivity can be a matter of life or death for a patient.

When COVID-19 hit, healthcare communication tools within hospitals needed to work in unison to keep up with everchanging rules and procedures. Hospitals and healthcare systems who had already implemented an integrated communication environment were much more prepared to rise to the occasion. 

A prime example of a department that was crucial to combating COVID-19 were hospital call centers. These call centers, often overlooked but the literal virtual front door of multi-hospital health systems, were being asked to implement new COVID-19 specific workflows, reference patient and on call information to triage callers appropriately, leverage telehealth technology to assist with screening patients before entering the hospital and much more, all while working remotely.

Through the help of an integrated communication environment, these hospital call centers were able to create custom guided workflows specific to COVID-19 procedures. They were able to use HL7 and FHIR interfaces to populate patient information instantly. They were able to receive real-time on call scheduling information through an integrated portal used by providers complete with preferred contact methods in order to contact resources on the right devices. They were able to use telehealth interfaces to create a virtual patient screening environment. All this was done remotely through the flexibility of their 1Call healthcare call center system and 1Call integrated clinical solutions.

COVID-19 allowed healthcare communication technology to show its true power and adaptiveness. Healthcare systems now have the opportunity to reassess how they communicate today how they can improve in order to be better prepared for the future.

Hear more about 1Call’s work during this free eHealthNews Live webinar, Technology solutions to help fight a pandemic, on 21 May. Register for free here.

To watch Joe Curtin’s presentation in the eHealthNews LIVE showcase go to this link

Source: 1Call media release, 11 May 2020

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Bring the Hospital ER into the Home, Eliminating Surge Capacity.

inTechnology Distribution, Australia’s leading Value Added Distributor announces that Caretaker Medical, the global leader in Remote Wireless Patient Monitoring, is the technology behind Australia's first 'virtual hospital’, and will be used to monitor COVID-19 patients in their homes, to help reduce the surge capacity on the Australian healthcare system.

Australia’s’ first virtual hospital program has been the brainchild of Professor Rod McClure, Dean of Medicine at the University of New England, and public health expert. Professor McClure spent several years as a director at the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and has worked with similar virtual hospitals in America.

“With the increasing pressure on hospital emergency and ICU departments and their front-line staff, we needed a way to address this and we needed to take action now”. “This has become an issue which has become global overnight, we need to access services when patients are in isolation," he said. “The systems that support virtual access to services are not there, however the technology is and now we are deploying it.” Professor McClure said,

“The Caretaker devices will be used to monitor patients in their homes who have moderate symptoms of the virus, and will continuously track their vital signs, including heart rate, temperature, oxygen saturation, beat-by-beat blood pressure and breathing”, Professor McClure, said. “A team of doctors, supported by artificial intelligence technology, will continuously monitor their status, and if their conditions worsen, we will bring them into the hospital for emergency care”, he concluded.

“With Caretaker’s ability to monitor patients remotely, and the forward thinking from Professor McClure to help Australia with this global pandemic, we will not only be able to reduce surge capacity, we will also help to protect clinicians and medical staff by allowing them to remain safely distanced from COVID-19 patients, while continuously observing vital signs’ said Jeff Pompeo President and CEO of Caretaker Medical.

“Beat by Beat Blood Pressure, Respiration Rate and other vitals are early indications of patient deterioration, and the Caretaker device triggers early intervention that save lives”. “Caretaker brings “ICU Quality” patient data to all points of care viewable from anywhere in the world without restricting patient mobility”, Jeff concluded.

“It’s a great privilege to be representing a vendor that not only provides world class technology, they are also at the forefront of the battle against this horrible disease that has affected so many across the world”, said Mark Winter, Chief Executive Officer at inTechnology Distribution.

Professor McClure had been refining his idea for years as a way of providing better healthcare to regional areas. But the sudden need to care for potentially thousands of coronavirus patients - overwhelming hospitals across the nation - has led him to roll the project out now with full support of the University of New England.

More Virtual hospitals are expected to be rolled out across Australia, as Australia's healthcare system braces for an enormous surge of coronavirus patients, potentially overwhelming hospital capacity. It is clear that there is an urgent need to find safe ways to keep non critically ill patients out of hospital and in the comfort of their own home.

About Caretaker Medical

Caretaker Medical® based in Charlottesville, Virginia, was founded in March 2014 to commercialize wireless patient monitoring devices built around its Patented Pulse Decomposition Analysis technology.

The company has developed the Caretaker wearable wireless vital signs monitoring system that sets a new standard in portability, simplicity, and medical-grade patient monitoring.  Using a small, comfortable finger cuff, Caretaker accurately measures continuous non-invasive beat-by-beat Blood Pressure (“CNIBP”), ECG-Accurate Heart Rate, and Respiration Rate, as well as Blood Volume (for hemorrhage detection), Arterial Stiffness, and other hemodynamic parameters.

Clinical trials have validated that Caretaker measurements are equivalent to other CNIBP patient monitors and heart rate methods. The company anticipates that its innovative approach to vital sign monitoring will be widely accepted in the medical community while disrupting existing patient monitoring solutions.

For more information about Caretaker Medical, and the Caretaker4 wireless Beat-by-Beat remote patient monitor please visit: http://www.caretakermedical.com.au

Image - Professor Rod McClure, Dean of Medicine at the University of New England (Left) and Mark Winter Chief Executive Officer, inTechnology Distribution

Source: Caretaker Medical media release, 20 April 2020

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Recently, the criteria for “essential” media changed and sadly we cannot physically print our publications while in Alert Level 4 lockdown. We know how much you love the print publication, so we have a solution!

The upcoming edition of New Zealand Doctor | Rata Aotearoa is going to land in your inbox as a FLIPBOOK!

To prepare:

• Ensure you can log in to the New Zealand Doctor website - try here
• If you can, well done! You are ready for the big day
• If you cannot, contact Tyler Brady on 09 912 9293 or tbrady@thehealthmedia.co.nz, and she will help you with your access to the website
• The final step: GET EXCITED!

Source: New Zealand Doctor media release, 7 April 2020

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Advantage and Blackberry Offer Two Months FREE Access to Endpoint Protection Platform to the Health Industry.

The health industry is being specifically targeted by cybercriminals at all levels from small clinics to hospitals. With practices moving to video consultations and other forms of telemedicine, the risks are high.

Cases of ransomware have occurred in hospitals with hackers locking down systems such that patient records become impossible to access unless a ransom is paid to the criminals.

Many businesses in the industry have not had cybersecurity training and don’t have adequate systems in place.

In recognition of the temporary work scenarios that New Zealand companies are facing during the COVID-19 lockdown, Advantage and Blackberry are offering FREE access to the Blackberry Cylance endpoint protection platform for up to 2 months, to enable and secure access to corporate information.

This platform is an AI-based endpoint security solution that prevents breaches and provides added controls for safeguarding against sophisticated threats.

Advantage has a team available to assist with the installation despite the Coronavirus lockdown as they are approved Essential Service providers.

Blackberry Cylance:

• Is simple to set up and can deploy to 1000’s of devices in days.
• Can be install alongside the current antivirus software.
• Is a lightweight agent with a small 1-2% CPU and ~60MB footprint.
• Prevents 99%+ of attacks pre execution.

To discuss or take up this offer, please contact Advantage today on phone 0800 358 8999 or via the website. https://advantage.nz/contact.

The Advantage team is available 24/7 for incident response.

Source: Advantage media release, 3 April 2020

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Health Metrics, a leading supplier of software solutions to the Health and Social Care sector, has announced the launch of eCase Telehealth, providing new telehealth functionality for their Residential Aged Care customers.

With current COVID-19 measures in place restricting visitors to aged care facilities along with guidelines for social distancing, eCase Telehealth provides a solution to allow ongoing medical consultations, as well as helping families stay in touch with loved ones.

The functionality will allow Residential Aged Care providers to manage many of their facility activities remotely.  Doctors, Allied Health Professionals and Pharmacists will be able to use the technology for resident consultations and meetings with staff. Further, medication administration tasks are made easier with the potential for the Doctor and/or the Pharmacist to be on line at the same time.

In a first-mover agreement, eCase Telehealth will leverage the CollabCare TeleConsult platform, which provides virtual health centric tools.  Created specifically for clinicians, the technology is designed with high level security and industry best practice for handling data.  Secure socket layers and layered data encryption allow for sensitive information to stay safe within the system architecture.  All service operations and data repositories reside strictly within Australia.

Features of the system include high definition video conferencing, real-time monitoring, chat messaging, screen and file sharing, calendar integration and major browser support.  The cloud-based technology is compatible with all devices.

Health Metrics CEO Steven Strange says that in challenging times, fast solutions are required and his company has already seen a quick uptake of the technology from their clients.

“We are offering two months of free integrated eCase Telehealth functionality for our user base and also for others in the industry. With no obligations and no contracts,” he said.

“We understand there is a major need for this technology right now in our industry and we want to make it as uncomplicated as possible.”

For media enquiries, please contact Liz Hardy on 0423571891.  To enquire about a free trial, click here.

Source: Health Metrics media release, 27 March 2020

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iMedX is rolling out Clinical Documentation Services for COVID-19

iMedX is rolling out the current solution to a number of hospitals across Australia and New Zealand to solve this problem: how do doctors dictate, review and edit their clinic notes if they are now working from home? A lot of the current NZ systems typically do not support this. And how do hospitals manage hundreds of doctors, typists and administrators working from home? If they are already in lock-down, how do they get trained?

The iMedX solution enables fast set up, training and onboarding of a solution that enables doctors to dictate form anywhere in New Zealand, review from anywhere, DHB admins to process from anywhere, and supports all current delivery channels used in NZ (EDI, Fax and Post)

Cloud documentation workflow for tele-health:

• Enables clinicians to dictate, review and approve securely from home
• Enables typists to transcribe from home
• Integrates with all leading PAS, SMR and EMR
• iMedX can provide access to overflow Medical Transcriptionists should MT workforce be impacted
• Can be set up within 48 hours
• iMedX manage the project end 2 end
• iMedX provide comprehensive onboarding support via self-training, remote training & webinars.
• Hosted in Australian government approved MS Azure cloud

iMedX is supporting customers with immediate commercials related to set up and configuration (short term).

Source: iMedX media release, 24 March 2020

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Every day, more than 6.6 billion images are uploaded to the internet. We use them to share our lives, stay informed, sell, rally and educate. For the millions of people around the world who are blind or have low vision, however, sharing in these images is a very limited experience.

Surprisingly, the functionality already exists to help people with sight loss fully participate in the visually driven online world. Every image uploaded to the internet has accessible functionality called ‘alt text’. This enables anyone who can’t see an image to experience it through technology like screen readers. In almost all cases currently, however, there is either no description available or a poor attempt made by an AI bot, which often leads to the information being incomplete or inaccurate.

The #AltTextForAll movement asks individuals and businesses to help open up the visual world by undertaking one simple task – to use the alt text functionality when publishing digital images to describe the relevant information in the picture.

Blind & Low Vision NZ marketing and communications GM Louise von Sierakowski says the #AltTextForAll movement is easy to get on board with.

“It seems many people just aren’t aware of the role alt text can play for screen reader users. We hope through this movement that people take a step forward in supporting how those who are blind or have low vision can have independent access to information. It’s simple, but it’s really important.”

The #AltTextForAll movement was launched via an online film, featuring Karen, the digital alt text voice. This was followed up by a series of fun bespoke films, aimed at international celebrities and organisations, including Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, BBC, Ellen, National Geographic and Humans of New York.

“Blind & Low Vision NZ help to open up the world for people with sight loss, through the many services they offer,” says YoungShand creative director Scott Maddox.

“The #AltTextForAll movement enables us to showcase this through a campaign that aims to make the millions of images we share every day more accessible.”

The campaign is supported by a series of films that focus on how the services offered by Blind & Low Vision NZ offer practical and emotional support for people with sight loss, including day-to-day living skills, getting around and employment readiness.

The campaign has already gained advocacy from prominent New Zealand businesses, including Westpac, Dole, The Warehouse Group, Vector and Sky City.

“When we started sharing the #AltTextForAll movement with Kiwi businesses, seeing the immediate support we received, it was like a no-brainer response to get involved. With such an easy change, these companies have consciously helped the world become more inclusive for those who are blind or have low vision – simply by adopting alt text,” says YoungShand group account director Ben Hopkinson.

Source: Blind & Low Vision NZ media release, 18 October 2019

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Strata’s industry leading cloud-based solution will match and manage all acute discharge and primary care referrals to community services, with an initial focus of supporting Canterbury’s home care services division.

“Strata Health is honoured to partner with the Canterbury Health System. As a well respected global eHealth innovation leader, the Canterbury Health  System is influencing best practices for patient-centered care around the world,” comments Don Schick, Strata Health Founder and Chairman. “Our organizations share common visions and cultures as we commit to leveraging technology to truly make a difference in patient outcomes and quality of life. We’re pleased to share our global experiences around patient flow outcomes, and we are just as excited to learn from Canterbury Health’s respected team.”

Strata Health will integrate via the eRMS Primary Care interface and collaborate with the Orion Acute Electronic Medical Record to provide seamless decision support for home care placement and wait listing across the Health Board population.

“One of our Canterbury Health System aims is to support patients to stay well at home and in their communities, using strategies that waste less of their time by ensuring the patient journey is smooth and seamless. Managing referrals from our primary care clinicians and hospitals well is key to making the most of everyone’s time,” states Carolyn Gullery, Executive Director General Manager – Planning, Funding and Decision Support for Canterbury and West Coast DHBs.

Ms. Gullery continues, “We are excited at the prospect of using cloud-based technology developed by Strata Health as a tool to improve patient flow and experience through assessing need and connecting people with the right specialist or community-based service – ensuring Canterbury people receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time, and by the right person.”

Deployment planning has launched in Christchurch with go-live planned for late 2019.

Source: Strata Health

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iMOKO is a digital health service created by Dr Lance O’Sullivan (New Zealander of the Year 2014) to address the lack of access to healthcare that many Maori, children and communities were suffering.  The iMOKO health service has successfully delivered over 30,000 remote consultations to children and adults across New Zealand.  With the Intrahealth partnership iMOKO is now being expanded with a new patient management system.

“The mission of iMOKO is to put control of healthcare back into the hands of people, through easy to use digital tools and access to care where people work, live or play”, explains Evan Blackman CEO of iMOKO.  “The partnership with Intrahealth enables iMOKO to increase the number of health conditions it can treat, and further integrate with health sector systems for more complete patient care”.

iMOKO is supporting improved health outcomes for communities from the Far North to deepest Southland.  iMOKO has focused on treating common conditions, such as skin or dental infections, and to bring care to children directly through early childhood centres, korhanga reo and schools.   Instead of waiting days or even weeks to get primary care, the iMOKO service can provide treatment for a child in minutes, without the child having to leave the classroom.

Intrahealth New Zealand General Manager, Craig Longstaff said “the opportunity to work with such an innovative organisation and have our solutions play a part in revolutionising health care delivery in New Zealand is incredibly exciting.” 

Source: iMOKO media release, 19 June 2019

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The data comes from the New Zealand ePrescribing Service (NZePS) and is accessible to clinicians at Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Taranaki and Waikato district health boards through the Midland Clinical Portal (MCP) – the Midland region’s solution to having a single, shared repository of patient information.

Delivered as an enhancement to the MCP, the NZePS functionality is a visual integration of a direct data feed containing more than 78.2 million dispensing records and 3.7 million e-prescriptions from community and non-hospital pharmacies, including aged-care facilities.

Dr Ian Martin, Chair of the eSPACE Clinical Authority and Clinical Director Emergency at Waikato Hospital, says having visibility of this national data provides a more accurate insight into a patient’s medication history, supporting effective diagnostic and treatment decisions.

“Instances where a patient presents to the ED saying that their GP had given them a ‘little yellow pill’ is common,” says Dr Martin.

“Being able to determine what medication a patient is likely to be taking is critical in providing quality healthcare.”

NZePS data is managed by Whanau Tahi on behalf of the Ministry of Health. Hauora Tairāwhiti have chosen to provide access to its clinical staff at a later time.

Source: HealthShare media release, 19 June 2019

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Cavanagh joined the Ministry of Health as chief technology and digital services officer in December 2016. Her role was disestablished last October in a Ministry restructure that created a new data and digital directorate.

She was acting deputy director-general data and digital until Shayne Hunter took over the role on 11 March.

Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield says, "technology is playing an increasingly greater role in the way health care is delivered.

“Our Ministry and indeed the wider system are well-placed to take on this challenge thanks to (Cavanagh’s) leadership and guidance over the past few years. 

“With a background leading innovation in digital health, she took on the role of chief technology officer and set about building her team’s engagement with groups around the Ministry, while advocating for new digital innovations across the health sector,” says Bloomfield. 

"I want to sincerely thank Ann-Marie and wish her well as she shifts to DIA and I look forward to continuing to work with her in her new role." 

Source: Ministry of Health 11 March 2019

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CMDHB told the HDC that during the period related to this case, the ophthalmology service used an electronic follow-up reporting system to capture overdue appointments.

CMDHB said that most other clinics within the DHB were able to complete an electronic chart review to assess the urgency of booking follow-up appointments. However, in ophthalmology, there were so many overdue follow-up appointments that all had the same clinical priority and it became extremely difficult to manage.

The Commission’s findings included that that the DHB failed to arrange a timely follow-up appointment in line with appropriate clinical timeframes and did not have an adequate prioritisation system for overdue follow-up specialist appointments. This meant there were missed opportunities to identify and remedy the ongoing delay in the girl being seen for specialist follow-up.

Among its recommendations, the HDC has required a report on an investigation into the iPM system shortcomings identified by this case.

HDC commissioner Anthony Hill called on the Ministry of Health as well as DHBs to plan better for the introduction of new technologies so further patients do not fall through the cracks.

 “As I said in a recent case, I consider that the Ministry of Health has a role, with DHBs, to recognise the effect of the introduction of such new technologies and associated pressures on the system, and plan accordingly.

“However, the existence of systemic pressures does not remove provider accountability in addressing such issues. A key improvement that all DHBs and the Ministry of Health must make, now and in the future, is to assess, plan, adapt, and respond effectively to the foreseeable effects that new technologies and population change will have on systems and demand.”

Source: Health and Disability Commissioner report, Case 16HDC01912, 20 June 2018

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The Intensive Care Unit based at Whangarei Hospital provides critical care services for regional hospitals throughout Northland.

Five years ago Northland DHB installed a mobile telehealth device called NEMO to help provide the best clinical advice to colleagues in Kaitaia Hospital and to determine the most appropriate way of transferring patients to Whangarei or Auckland.

In order to link up all our referring centres we recently installed a new telehealth link at Bay of Islands Hospital.

The one-year-old had presented with complications from bronchitis to a GP practice in Kaikohe, which is a 20-minute ambulance ride away from Bay of Islands Hospital and more than 60 minutes from Whangarei.

The decision was made to stop at Bay of Islands Hospital so that the patient could be assessed by the ICU team in Whangarei via a telehealth link.

The Bay of Islands Hospital clinical team, the GP from Kaikohe who had travelled with the patient, the Whangarei intensive care specialist team, paediatrician and clinical flight team were all present for the assessment.

“Under normal circumstances helicopter retrieval with the ICU team would have been instigated,” said Northland DHB consultant anaesthetist/intensivist Michael Kalkoff.

“Instead the telehealth link was set up and the child was assessed and treated by the whole team.”

Once the child’s condition was stabilised it was mutually decided that they could be safely transferred via ambulance to Whangarei Hospital.

The telehealth link meant that the helicopter could be stood down, saving money and keeping it available for other calls.

Telehealth facilities ease the communication between different healthcare providers and provide improved care for acutely ill rural patients.

“It was amazing to have the IT facility and back up from the ICU team here in the Mid-North,” said Broadway Health GP Dr Justine Woodcock.

“It felt very reassuring and really added to the patient’s care and a positive outcome.”

The Zoom link to Bay of Islands Hospital is a predecessor to a Mobile Clinical Cart which is currently being developed by the Northland DHB telehealth and mobility team in collaboration with Zoom, the University of Queensland and healthAlliance.

It takes the learnings from NEMO and the new Zoom link to make a Mobile Clinical Cart which will be able to be used throughout the new Accident & Medical Department and hospital wards.

The funding of equipment for the new telehealth links for Bay of Islands Hospital has been made possible by a grant from the Hugo Charitable Trust.

The Mobile Clinical Cart will be ready for the new Accident & Medical Department and 20-bed ward that is opening in September.

Source: Northland DHB media release, 13 August 2018

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The review panel has undertaken an in-depth review of the screening programme’s two IT programs, the Bowel Screening Pilot Information Technology System enhanced version (BSP+) and the National Screening Solution (NSS), and the assurance documentation provided by the Ministry of Health.

It found that this work has been robust to date and the Ministry of Health continues to make enhancements to the BSP+ to support the integrity and safety of the system.

The review found that, despite these updates, the BSP+ still presents a risk to the NBSP due to its limited functionality, and that it was necessary to continue to monitor and manage the ongoing risks presented by the BSP+, as well as to support the DHBs using the system.

The panel was satisfied that the Ministry of Health conducted a robust and comprehensive process in procuring the NSS. It also supported the strategic intent of the NSS. Using the system across screening programmes will provide a comprehensive view of a participant’s screening history and create significant efficiencies, the review’s report said.

The panel was concerned, however, that, in common with other large-scale IT projects, the IT solution brings a risk that it may not be achieved within the timelines proposed, or that the final deliverable may not meet the expectations of all stakeholders.

It said that adequate oversight of the NSS development, together with sector engagement, was needed to maximise the functionality of the system, including prioritising integration with primary care systems.

The panel identified the following risks:

• There is a risk that the NSS design, build and roll-out will not be achieved within the tight timeframes or within budget.
• NSS implementation may be delayed due to complications resulting from the considerable amount of work required to integrate the NSS with other IT systems.
• Public concern may arise about the use of cloud-based IT solutions and data sovereignty, which may delay the implementation of the NSS.
• The validity and reliability of the National Enrolment Service data have not been adequately reviewed, which may impact on the ability of the NBSP to undertake participant follow-up.
• There is a risk around the level of resource required to support eight DHBs using the BSP+ at the same time as developing and implementing the NSS.
• Further invitation issues cannot be ruled out, due to inadequacies with the BSP+ IT system, including the need for manual workarounds.

The review panel made the following six recommendations:

1. Urgent consideration should be given to real-time integration with primary care practice management systems as a way of increasing participation in the programme as intended through primary care’s access to a participant’s full screening progress.
2. The Ministry of Health needs to continue to monitor and manage carefully the ongoing risks presented by the limited functionality of the BSP+.
3. DHBs, primary care and the National Coordination Centre should be appropriately involved during the design and subsequent phases of the NSS.
4. The Ministry of Health should continue to strengthen project management during the design, build and implementation of the NSS to ensure deliverables are met within the planned timeframes. IT governance arrangements should be reviewed to ensure they are fit for purpose.
5. Contingency plans for potential delays in the NSS roll-out should be strengthened and more clearly articulated.
6. The Ministry of Health should undertake a review of the functionality and operation of the population register, to increase its accuracy and completeness. This includes a review of the ability of the National Enrolment Service to provide participant contact details.

Source: Independent Assurance Review for the National Bowel Screening Programme, 8 August 2018

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Tasy EMR is Philips’ next generation electronic medical record and care management solution, which addresses the shortcomings of conventional EMRs. Tasy EMR is also available in New Zealand. Philips will be presenting on this solution and its benefits at the HiNZ 2018 conference in New Zealand.

Instead of needing multiple IT solutions from various vendors, Philips Tasy EMR offers one integrated solution across all care settings through a single platform and database that enables centralised management of clinical, organisational and administrative processes. Advanced clinical analytics allows for streamlining workflows, driving quality and efficiency of care and patient safety.

“As a community hospital with a vast network and varied medical expertise striving to achieve excellence in care and service, we are dedicated to setting a benchmark for regional hospitals,” said Ray Fairweather, Chief Executive Officer at St. Andrew’s Toowoomba Hospital.

“We are leveraging the latest technology to allow for safety and accuracy in healthcare while improving operational workflow for patients and staff. Philips’ comprehensive EMR solution will support us driving clinical innovation and operational efficiencies that sets us apart now and in the future.”

“Together with St. Andrew’s Toowoomba Hospital, we will fully digitise its entire care management processes and enable anytime, anywhere access to clinical analytics that helps to continuously improve safety and patient outcomes,” said Yair Briman, business leader healthcare informatics at Philips.

“Our technology with advanced real-time risk assessment and decision making aims to empower physicians, nurses and other medical professionals to make fast and confident diagnosis, treatment and follow-up decisions in all the different phases of the patient journey, from prevention to acute care.”

Conventional EMRs typically contain standard medical and clinical data about a patient, and were originally designed to use this information primarily for administrative tasks such as billing. Philips Tasy EMR helps hospitals become digital, integrated, interoperable and secure.

As Tasy EMR is built on HTML 5, as a single web-based integrated patient administration and electronic medical record platform and database, care professionals and administrators can access any information in real-time from any location within or beyond the hospital to manage their processes centrally. These processes range from patient care to inventory and supply management, revenue cycle management and business reporting.

Other processes covered by Tasy EMR include comprehensive, clinically integrated bed management and the scheduling of rooms and staff for appointments and medical procedures. By managing both clinical and administrative workflows, Tasy EMR connects the dots between different aspects of patient care. Designed to be highly flexible through traceable user roles and profiles, it keeps pace with a hospital’s workflows, standards and key performance indicators.

As part of the customisation of Tasy EMR functionalities, St. Andrew’s Toowoomba Hospital will get access to advanced clinical decision support tools and full closed loop medication management. Medication errors and unsafe medication practices are a concern to hospital systems across the world. It is estimated that in Australia alone, the annual medication error-related costs are at least $1.2 billion.

This new partnership agreement between Philips and St. Andrew’s Toowoomba Hospital is another important step in the Tasy EMR growth success story beyond Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. The use of Tasy EMR has already helped multiple Brazilian hospitals receive EMR Adoption Model Stage 6 and Model Stage 7 (the highest level possible) certification from HIMSS Analytics; meaning they are near paperless and are driving integration, security and analytics to optimise patient care.

Source: Philips media release, 26 July 2018

To read more about the HiNZ 2018 Conference click here >>

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Best Practice Software has announced the imminent release of Bp Premier Indigo, which is in its final stages of testing with a group of Release Candidates currently putting it through its paces. Free online Bp Masterclasses will start from Monday 21st to Thursday 24th May, then Tuesday 29th to Thursday 31st May, and will take users through improved features to the Software, both across the Clinical and Management modules, including exciting changes to the Reminder screen.

Best Practice Software Chief Operations Officer Craig Hodges says there are many new features for users to learn.

“We’ve enhanced the functionality of reminders to allow you to write in free text comments and create a Reminder type to group your Reminders together. There’s also added fields to allow for a default interval of days and even changed the Reminder function to allow clinics to differentiate between Clinically Significant and Preventive Health Reminders.” Mr Hodges said.

Other major enhancements include the Subpoena Patient Export tool, My Health Record, Patient record import and export, confidential material, Tyro Bulk billing, Improved Medicare workflows, Improved support for Multi-location sites and much more.

Source: Bp media release, 30 April 2018

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