HL7 New Zealand

April 2022 Update

Kia ora koutou,

In our last update, we invited feedback on HL7 International’s roadmap for FHIR and are now able to provide a basic outline of the agreed release plan:

• R5 – estimated publication in Q1 2023 – will be a ‘Trial Use’ version with no new normative content
• R6 – estimated publication in Q1 2026 – will be a major release with additional normative content

This effectively means that all new and changed content in R5 will be potentially subject to change, however all the existing normative content in R4 remains as such. Our expectation is that New Zealand will continue to use R4 for the foreseeable future, but we will provide help to any members wishing to add new elements, to existing resources, by way of extensions.
 
UPCOMING EVENTS:
We are pleased to confirm that this year’s first joint HL7 FHIR Connectathon with HL7 Australia will be a virtual event held on April 27-28, with a particular focus on Terminology Services, including integration with the New Zealand National Terminology Server. Further details and registrations are available here.
 
As those of you who attended last week’s Virtual HiNZ Conference will be aware, HiNZ is now planning to hold an in-person Digital Health Week NZ 2022in Rotorua from 5-8 December. We are hoping that this will include our long-awaited joint workshop with HISO – Escape from Burning Platforms with SNOMED on FHIR. Confirmation and the exact timing of the workshop will be available in due course.
 
In the meantime, we are planning to re-commence our programme of Webinars in which our members showcase their implementations of HL7 FHIR. If you would like to present one of these sessions, please contact us.
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The Board would like to acknowledge last week’s successful re-branding of one of our key partners NZHIT to the Digital Health Association and we encourage you to visit their excellent new Web Site. Their Digital Health Enablers Special Interest Group also has a new title – the Digital Interoperability Industry Group – and HL7NZ continues to play an active part in this in Group.
 
NZ WORK GROUP NEWS:
The HL7NZ FHIR® Implementation Work Group has commenced work on the second version of the Base NZ FHIR Implementation Guide. The current focus is on NZ profiles on data types, such as Address, and key resources such as Patient; however, we are also continuing to encourage requests for extensions that have a national scope. Fortnightly meetings are at 12:00 pm on Fridays.  All interested parties are welcome to attend these meetings – further details are available on our Web Site.
 
Ngā mihi

Executive Board – HL7 New Zealand