A survey of New Zealanders undertaken by global consultancy Accenture suggests strong support for the development of an electronic health record system operated by the Government that would enable individuals to see all information in their medical records.
“Any breach of this magnitude is unacceptable, full stop.”
“With no policy or legislative changes, it has been estimated that the project could be restarted and completed in six to nine months, depending on resource availability and priority against other projects."
The Ministry of Health was hit by a variant of the cryptolocker virus this week, that was attached to a link in an email.
IBM New Zealand has posted an after-tax profit of $40.32 million for the December 31, 2013 year, up slightly from $39.46 million in 2012. Operating revenue was down $42.83 million at $386.86 million.
UXC's Red Rock Consulting will have its contract with the Ministry of Health extended by three years, says the board director of National Health IT Board, Graeme Osborne.
On the sidelines of a conference on health that took place recently, Graeme Osborne, director of the National Health IT Board, talks to <i>ComputerWorldNZ</i> on the progress of the plan, the efforts to standadise systems and processes, and how the Ministry of Health is working to change the nature of healthcare in the country with ICT.
National Institute for Healthcare Innovation's (NIHI) symposium that took place today brought together healthcare professionals, researchers, government officials and IT vendors to discuss the ways and means to make better use of big data in New Zealand's healthcare provision.
The New Zealand Ministry of Health has implemented a new software platform from IBM to support the personalised health records of all patients throughout New Zealand. Known as the Health Identity Programme, the platform aims to improve the quality and availability of accessible health information for providers, such as District Hospital Boards (DHBs), general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists.
The Ministry of Health has announced that Revera will host and support its new health identity system.
A statement from the Ministry reads: "The new system will replace the now obsolete technology supporting the National Health Index (NHI) and Health Practitioner Index (HPI) and join them into one integrated electronic system.
The Ministry of Health will spend $15 million on a project that it says will have a major impact on the health sector.
The Ministry of Health has invested in Oracle and IBM software licences for planned growth during the 2010-11 financial year.
A consultation document on restructuring at the Ministry of Health proposes creating a new group, Corporate Information Managment, which will be responsible for all ministry IT requirements.
The functions will transfer from the new National Health Board once IT support arrangements are agreed.
The document says there is a need for clearer focus on supporting IT needs at the ministry. A new Information Strategy group will support the National Health IT Board implementation of its national health IT plan.
The document says there will be a fundamental change in how strategy and relationship resources support the board and engage with the health sector. Proposed new roles will be developed.
Under the heading “Information Delivery and Operations” full-time-equivalent positions are estimated as: management office 25; solutions delivery 55; technology services 75; data management and clinical coding 52.
The health network will transfer to technology services, which the document says will be largely unchanged, though with three new management roles.
No decisions will be made about individual jobs at the ministry until a consultation process is complete and feedback considered. Deputy director-general Margie Apa says decisions are expected to be made around May 18.
The proposal recommends a structure to reduce the number of full-time positions within the ministry to 1390 by the end of this financial year and 1290 by July 2011. The ministry currently has around 1420 full-time equivalent staff. The proposal would see a reduction of about 35 positions this financial year.
All Ministry of Health employees, both permanent and fixed-term, will receive a personal letter tomorrow clarifying their roles and any impact on them over changes in health structures initiated by the government last year.
The Ministry of Health is planning an online reporting system for what it calls "reportable events", incidents that may result in poor results for patients.