New Zealand - New Zealand approach to health IT provides model for European efforts to improve healthcare delivery

Citation

(2012), "New Zealand - New Zealand approach to health IT provides model for European efforts to improve healthcare delivery", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 25 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2012.06225gaa.007

New Zealand - New Zealand approach to health IT provides model for European efforts to improve healthcare delivery

Article Type: News and views From: International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 25, Issue 7

Keywords: Health care policy modelling, European healthcare quality improvements, Sustainable healthcare systems

A new White Paper launching next week suggests that New Zealand can provide a model for health policy makers and IT professionals seeking to reduce costs and increase the quality of healthcare in Europe.

New Zealand has overcome many of the barriers to developing a truly integrated healthcare service by strategically viewing health care as a continuum, from patient to the care provider and community, and employing a range of new approaches and electronic health technologies.

The White Paper “Better Information for Better Care – New Zealand’s Approach to Efficient and Affordable Care”, commissioned by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, invites European health sector professionals to explore how New Zealand has combined policy, system design and information technology to transform its healthcare system.

Malcolm Pollock, Director of the National Institute for Health Innovation and author of the White Paper, commented: “New Zealand’s size has enabled a highly responsive approach to the development of sustainable healthcare systems. The country has pioneered advances in many areas of healthcare, ranging from medical devices and bio-pharmaceutical products to cost-saving IT solutions.”

New Zealand’s focus on innovation has resulted in its health sector being recognised internationally as a provider of high quality and cost effective services. It has achieved these advances through far-sighted strategies, the leadership provided by the National Health IT Board, by the long term investment over more than 20 years in health IT, and the country’s single tier of governance.

“With a small, geographically dispersed population and remote locations, New Zealand has strong incentives to develop and implement new approaches to healthcare delivery using innovative health technology,” said Chai Chuah, National Director of the National Health Board, the New Zealand Ministry of Health. “New Zealand is committed to improving its health system on a sustainable basis and realises that new approaches are required to increase quality cost effectively. We are currently focusing on more clinically-led innovative models of care; wider involvement of patients and consumers in designing our future health services and greater integration of investment in IT, workforce and infrastructure.”

New Zealand was among the first countries in the world to establish an electronic Population Health Index, a secure system that features nearly 20 years of health encounters and is now supplemented by a Health Practitioner Index. Beyond informing public policy decisions, these indices have enabled development of rich data sets.

Significant eHealth initiatives underway in New Zealand at present include opening online access between hospitals and primary care for emergency care, the roll out of nationwide eReferrals and eDischarges, early work in transferring records between GPs, and eMedication in hospitals and primary care.

This approach is exemplified in New Zealand’s eHealth patient portal, described by Mr Chuah: “The current phase of this project has provided us with the opportunity to design personalised healthcare and make important medical information (such as medication, allergies, etc.) available for individuals and providers,” he said. “It is these kinds of initiatives that keep New Zealand at the forefront of eHealth innovation and could be of interest to European countries who share the same challenges as New Zealand. The phase focuses on capturing broader information from patients and their families, information that is driven and controlled by them.”

Many of New Zealand’s world-class health technology companies operate in Europe, providing sophisticated healthcare solutions. The White Paper suggests that European deployment of New Zealand approaches to health IT can help streamline procedures, generate higher efficiencies and cost savings.

Dr Stephan H Schug, MD MPH, Chief Medical Officer, EHTEL (European Health Telematics Association), said: “Delivery models of European healthcare and welfare must fundamentally change to better support the needs of persons with chronic conditions. New strategies and processes are needed. The recent White Paper “Better Information for Better Care - New Zealand’s Approach to Efficient and Affordable Care” provides an impressive example how clinical IT systems can support integrated care across primary, secondary and community settings and enable shared care across the continuum of care. New Zealand thus becomes an interesting laboratory where European healthcare systems may find significant inspiration for necessary changes.”

For more information: www.ehealthnews.eu