New Zealand looks for wrap around IT

Seven of New Zealand district health boards have formed a collaboration to procure an “individual-centric” health management system.

The seven health boards, which serve around 27% of the population, have issued a request for information (RFI) and are looking to attract interest from software suppliers in the UK.

The New Zealand/UK-based Simpl Group is managing the RFI process, and has set up a website for responses, which must be received by 16 February. A further three district health boards have indicated interest and may join at the request for proposal stage.

Paul Malcolm, Simpl regional director EMEA, told E-Health Insider it was possible that the move could become a national procurement and a national programme.

“Traditionally, New Zealand has been behind England in its use of IT, but in recent years it has caught up and it now wants to do something like what the national programme [in England] was originally set up to do,” he said. “They want to make a step change. And they want to make it patient centric.”

The seven district health boards – Canterbury, MidCentral, Nelson Marlborough, MidCentral, South Canterbury, Wairarapa, Whanganui and Northland – have been working on their own reform and IT procurement plans, but “it has become clear that the vision of the individual initiatives is similar.”

The RFI says the Health Management System Collaborative (HSMC) they have formed is looking to “wrap the system around the individual” and to do away with the traditional boundaries between hospital, primary and community services.

It says the collaborative has identified IT as a “key enabler” for the vision and that it is looking for a “single integrated health record that is used at all points of care and that is supported by seamless scheduling, booking and administrative IT systems.”

The RFI says that while the functions of hospital patient administration systems and primary care practice management systems need to be retained, such provider-based systems are “no longer seen as appropriate to managing the health of individuals and populations effectively.”

It says the collaborative wants to take a “unique opportunity to ‘leap frog’ the traditional patient administration system evolution and establish a health management system that is person focused, available at the point of care, accessible to the person and that gathers information as part of the process of care.”

The RFI says the collaborative is willing to consider any technical solution that delivers its vision, but “it is essential that there exists, whether virtually or physically, a single, unified view of the electronic health record for any individual” that is available to all professionals and the patient.

The solution must also be able to meet standards set by the New Zealand Health Information Standards Organisation, to align with the Health Information Strategy for New Zealand and its action zones, and work with the systems in use by district health boards outside the collaboration.

In addition, potential suppliers must have a “substantial installation base” and to be able to provide at least two reference sites.

A tight timescale has been put on the procurement because a number of the district health boards involved in the collaboration need to replace existing systems and will need “tactical plans” to support their existing operations while participating in it. Responses to the RFI will be evaluated by the end of March.

Simpl is a systems integrator and supports a patient administration system developed by the Auckland District Health Board. It will not be responding to the RFI. However, it says it is not precluded from acting as a systems integrator or implementation services provider in subsequent phases of the project.

Links:

The request for information is on the New Zealand Government Electronic Tenders Service, reference 24585.