thomas bowden ceo, healthlink ltd

Thomas BowdenCEO, HealthLink Ltd

The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the official position of the New Zealand government. Government officials have been consulted extensively during the preparation of this paper. The presenter is not an official spokesperson.

IF New Zealand was a US state… 24 South Carolina 4,479,80025 Louisiana 4,410,79626 Kentucky 4,269,245

New Zealand 4,173,46027 Oregon 3,790,060  28 Oklahoma

3,642,361  

An environment that works collaboratively... Many IT vendors Three Health-system Integrators A strong industry association Government leadership/sponsorship Vigorous experimentation and

debate

= a Learning Environment

Key Aims

Support efficient primary care Automate routine processes Building on existing functionality Good working relationships

..... We have a clear health reform strategy

Hospitals

Specialists

Pharmacies

Laboratory Services

AncillaryProfessionals

Radiology Services

Referrals

Status Reports

Discharge

Summaries

Development of New Zealand’s Electronic Health Records System 1993-2012

On-Line Queries

ORDER ENTRY

-Pharmacy

-Laboratory

-Radiology

-Hospital

-Specialist

-Pharmacy

ALL

HOSPITAL DOCUMENTS

Patient Connection to GP

EMR Access

Multiple specialised chronic care services

Electronic Messaging Services (50 million messages per annum)

Practice Support Systems

1100 General Practices

Any authorized provider may send a structured online query to any EMR system

4.5 million patients

NB: This is still a work in progress…

Online Referrals

Electronic Clinical Transactions (Per Month)

National Child Immunisation Register

Number of electronic partners (monthly average per general practice)

100% EMR UPTAKE

Number of electronic partners (monthly average per general practice)

100% EMR UPTAKE

Building clinical messaging applications

VALUE

EASE

Our Views on...  . Incentives and regulatory requirements to promote

implementation?

Incentives? As long as they are aligned with the overall drivers,

Regulatory requirements? Clear cut but light handed.

 ·        Vender certification and technical assistance?

Light handed certification and encouraging development of a market for technical assistance.

 ·        Strategies for national standards and interoperability?

Clear easy to implement standards, gradually lifting the bar,

An environment that makes interoperability desirable.

  .   The role of a national health integrator?

Why not open it up to anyone that can chin the bar?

 ·         Privacy and confidentiality safeguards?

It is absolutely critical to have a strong underpinning understanding of privacy and the fundamental importance of privacy to the human condition.

 ·      Use of public/private partnerships to support innovation?

PPPs are a low-risk way of enabling specialised/core bits of infrastructure to be delivered efficiently and in a disciplined, well controlled manner.

Ideally innovation is encouraged not contracted for

CURRENT FOCUS

Electronic Referrals – online submission of very detailed information directly into a hospital’s electronic medical record system

Emergency room access to GPs’ EMRs – immediate, complete and up-to-date

information

Gradually pushing the agenda forward

tom.bowden@healthlink.net