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| 10 years of integration makes New Zealand world leader in healthcare delivery |
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Posted: 3 February 2004
International demand for New Zealand-developed health information systems is on the rise thanks to the country’s newly formed NZ Health IT Cluster, a consortium of 37 New Zealand-based software vendors, healthcare workers, government agencies and research institutes working together to improve healthcare delivery.
New Zealand’s early adoption of a national health index that uniquely identifies healthcare users -- considered a world-first when it was launched more than ten years ago – spawned the early development of health information systems that integrate data across multiple organisations, including general practices, hospitals, community clinics, laboratories and government agencies. New Zealand-developed health information systems have made a significant contribution to the improvement of the country’s healthcare delivery and will be the subject of a workshop provided at the annual HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference taking place in San Diego from February 9-13. The workshop will be given in 5A from 11 a.m. until noon on February 12. Customer case studies will also be highlighted.
“What New Zealand is doing with health information systems is highly relevant to any country’s healthcare sector, regardless of how it is structured,” says Martin Entwistle, who will be presenting at the workshop at international leadership symposium on behalf of the cluster.
“It’s all about working together to deliver better, proactive healthcare, and this involves integrating enterprise systems so that information fragmentation is reduced. This way healthcare providers can view the bigger picture, and provide the best possible care at the appropriate time and setting.”
A survey conducted by independent research company Harris Interactive indicates that 60 percent of general practitioners in New Zealand use electronic medical records compared with two percent in the USA and 20 percent in Australia (October 2001).
New Zealand's trade minister, Jim Sutton, says that with more than 10 years experience in integrating health information technology, New Zealand was ideally placed to respond to increasing international demand for solutions in this sphere.
"There is no doubt in my mind that this is an area in which New Zealand has a distinct competitive advantage and that it is a global leader in health IT," he says, "New Zealand is both sufficiently compact and technologically advanced -- as well as cohesive in approach -- to make rapid progress in health technology. Now it is taking those solutions to the international marketplace."
Presenting at the workshop on behalf of the cluster will be the Ministry of Health’s chief advisor to the health information sector, Mike Rillstone; Orion Systems International CEO Ian McCrae; and Enigma Publishing CEO Martin Entwistle.
The country’s experts will again present their learnings as part of the international leadership forum at 2.30pm on the same day as the workshop. |
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ It’s difficult to say exactly why or one single thing about New Zealand but to me New Zealand is like drinking from a spring in terms of the freshness that’s there, I’m so impressed with the students and the university I believe there’s enormous potential.”
Professor Tom Furness, HIT LabNZ, University of Washington, 2002
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