Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand has embarked on a new digital project consolidating patient health information access nationwide for clinicians.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
The Shared Digital Health Records (SDHR) project initially aims to "connect data from existing shared digital health records and nationally available clinical data into a consistent view, leveraging existing access, consent, and privacy controls," said Darren Douglass, acting Chief Information Technology Officer of Te Whatu Ora, in a statement shared with Healthcare IT News.
Funded with NZ$4 million ($2.29 million) through its launch in the middle of the year, the first stage of the project involves ensuring the health system's readiness through testing options for privacy controls and understanding consumer priorities around the use of their data and consent. This stage will also extend clinicians' access to patient records not currently available in existing records systems.
"We are re-engaging with our primary care partners to work with them on the data we need to make available for clinical use, how we plan to use and keep it safe, including which care settings will be prioritised for future access," Douglass expounded.
Providers joining the project can "opt off at any time and reverse that decision if they would like to."
One of the SDHR's first uses is supporting the recently announced 24/7 GP telehealth service. Future applications include urgent care facilities and emergency departments.
Future development, meanwhile, includes enhancing data and extending access to other parts of the health system, such as first responders, hospitals, and specialist services, prioritised based on value for patients and clinicians. "This further development is part of a wider digital primary care business case, which is to be finalised over the coming months," Douglass explained.
"I look forward to sharing more detail[s] as work in the initiative progresses," he added.
WHY IT MATTERS
The SDHR project aims to provide consolidated access to digital health records across Te Whatu Ora regions. "Clinicians currently do not have access to shared digital health records for patients in all [Te Whatu Ora] regions," Douglass said. Access to existing systems, including Health One, Your Health Summary, and TestSafe, is fragmented and inconsistent, he noted.
"We understand and acknowledge it is very important to our stakeholders that clinicians and patients remain informed and retain control over the distribution, access, and use of health information," the Te Whatu Ora official emphasised.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Hira and other similar data-related programs have informed the creation of the SDHR project, Douglass shared. Hira now provides access to patient information, including National Health Index details and vaccination records, via My Health Record, and API testing capabilities via the Digital Services Hub for IT developers. The project, the first phase of which was completed in June, is now paused following budget cuts.
Meanwhile, Te Whatu Ora's National Data Platform was also launched last year in July. It initially established a secure environment for managing personal medical data. Expected to drive evidence-based policy decisions, data currently available to analysts include the Medicines Data Repository and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment datasets.