HL7 New Zealand

End of Year Message from HL7 New Zealand

Kia ora koutou,

As 2024 reaches a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past year and extend my heartfelt gratitude to all our members. It’s been a year of challenges, progress, and collaboration as we continue to shape the future of health data interoperability in New Zealand.

This year, New Zealand’s Government made significant cuts and changes to the health system, including deep cuts to digital health initiatives such as Hira. These cuts have slowed progress toward greater interoperability and IT modernisation, presenting hurdles for us all. 

However, these challenges also compel us to reconnect with our core values. We develop and promote HL7 standards because standards save money, improve care, and empower patients, providers, and digital health suppliers. Even in times of constraint, bringing these principles to life remains vital to the future of our health system. Together, we can navigate the current difficulties and demonstrate how interoperability fosters efficiency, equity, and better outcomes for all.

In March 2024, we hosted a Symposium and Connectathon in Auckland, which drew over 100 participants for a highly successful two-day event. With different tracks showcasing the FHIR initiatives underway at Health NZ | Te Whatu Ora, the event highlighted the incredible potential of FHIR to transform healthcare delivery. We are deeply grateful for the strong support from Health NZ in making this event possible. The countries that are succeeding at modernising and innovating with FHIR are those with strong government support, and this event was a prime example of what we can achieve with collaborative efforts.

In early December, we hosted a FHIR Workshop and Connectathon at Digital Health Week in Hamilton. While the crowds were smaller and participation from Health NZ was more limited, the attendees were highly engaged, benefiting from more interactive and tailored sessions with our expert presenters and track leads. The day’s sessions provided valuable insights and practical hands-on experiences, reaffirming the importance of bringing people together to advance the adoption of HL7 standards in New Zealand.

Looking ahead, we are excited to announce the March 2025 FHIR Symposium and Connectathon, held jointly with our Australian colleagues. This two-day event will feature:

• Day 1: A Symposium with presentations from government and industry leaders, offering insights into FHIR’s latest applications and advancements. The Symposium will be accessible virtually, allowing wide participation.
• Day 2: An in-person Connectathon in Auckland, where attendees can showcase or test their FHIR solutions and products in a collaborative setting.

If you have a FHIR solution or product you’d like to showcase or test at the Connectathon, we encourage you to get in touch!

We’re also pleased to announce the release of the NZ Base FHIR Implementation Guide version 3.0.1, now available at https://fhir.org.nz/ig/base/index.html. This version includes several technical corrections and is preferred over the earlier version 3.0.0.

For our members, discounted educational offerings remain an important benefit. We encourage you to explore the HL7 International Education Calendar, which is available to view or download at https://www.hl7.org/training/calendar.cfm. This comprehensive resource offers a wide range of courses and materials to help you whether you’re just starting out, looking to expand your knowledge, or seeking to keep up with the latest HL7 developments.

Thank you for your dedication, contributions, and commitment to our shared vision. As we step into 2025, I look forward to continuing our work together to drive innovation and improve health outcomes across New Zealand.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a successful new year!

John S. Carter

Chair, HL7 New Zealand

2024 HL7 New Zealand Annual General Meeting

The 2024 HL7 New Zealand Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 10^th October at 3:30pm virtually via ZOOM.  All members of the previous board were re-elected.

The Chairman and Treasurer Annual Reports, presented to the Meeting, can be found in the minutes 

At the first meeting of the new Board, held directly afterwards, the following officers were unanimously elected for two-year terms up to the end of September 2026: John Carter (Chair) and Peter Jordan (Secretary).  Peter Sergent(Vice-Chair) and David Moorhouse (Treasurer) will continue in their roles until the end of September 2025, having been elected to serve two-year terms following the 2023 AGM.

The meeting passed a motion to adopt a new Constitution that meets the new compliance requirements of the Incorporated Societies Act 2022. Among other things, this will require us to hold future AGMs by September 30^th, i.e. within 6 months of the end of our Financial Year (March 31^st).

HL7 New Zealand News – Summer 2023 

We hope that this message finds you well and looking forward to the upcoming summer break. We enjoyed meeting with many of you at last week’s Digital Health Week NZ and were thrilled that 120 people attended the inaugural NZ IPS-athon during which we created a patient summary for ePatient Iosefa so he can travel with his health information between Samoa and NZ.

This sold-out event was so successful, that a follow-up event has been scheduled to be held the week of March 18 next year. Look out for further details early in the New Year.  In the meantime, we have some more exciting news to share with the sector…

NZ WORK GROUP NEWS:

We have just published the third version of the HL7 FHIR NZ Base Implementation Guide. This is the result of many months of diligent work by our HL7NZ FHIR® Implementation Work Group, with broad sector representation, and passed the required Membership Ballot, held last month, with flying colours.

This Guide contains the base FHIR implementation rules for New Zealand (Extensions, Profiles, Identifiers, and Terminologies). It is an ‘abstract’ artefact from which all other FHIR Implementation Guides in New Zealand may be derived, and we hope that it will continue to be a valuable resource for the local FHIR community.

We would also like to extend our gratitude to our members at Spark Health for kindly hosting the Guide.

As it is a ‘living’ artefact, work on the next version will commence early next year, and the Work Group will continue to hold regular, one-hour meetings on Fridays at 12:00pm. All interested parties are welcome to attend these meetings – further details are available on our Web Site.

Ngā mihi

Executive Board – HL7 New Zealand

2023 HL7 New Zealand Annual General Meeting

The 2023 HL7 New Zealand Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 23^rd November at 4:00pm virtually via ZOOM.  Eight members of the previous board were re-elected along with new member Prashanth Koval (Medtech Global).

The Chairman and Treasurer Annual Reports, presented to the Meeting, can be found in the minutes

At the first meeting of the new Board, held directly afterwards, the following officers were unanimously elected for two-year terms up to November 2025: Peter Sergent (Vice-Chair) and David Moorhouse (Treasurer).  John Carter (Chair) and Peter Jordan (Secretary) will continue in their roles until November 2024, having been elected to serve two-year terms in November 2022.

HL7 New Zealand News – Spring 2023

We hope that this message finds you well and handling the various climatic challenges thrown at us by the El Nino weather system! Spring is traditionally the busiest time of year for our Affiliate and this year is no exception as the build up to Digital Health Week and our Annual General Meeting commences. We also have some important news from our FHIR Implementation Work Group and an exciting Webinar that HiNZ will be hosting on Wednesday, 18^th October.

NZ WORK GROUP NEWS:

We are now working towards the publication of the third version of the HL7 FHIR NZ Base Implementation Guide. This is the result of many months of diligent work by our HL7NZFHIR® Implementation Work Group, with broad sector representation.

This Guide contains the base FHIR implementation rules for New Zealand (Extensions, Profiles, Identifiers, and Terminologies). It is an ‘abstract’ artefact from which all other FHIR Implementation Guides in New Zealand may be derived. Thanks to input from a broad range of stakeholders we are sure that it will continue to be a valuable resource for the local FHIR community.

Throughout October and November, the Work Group will be holding weekly, one-hour meetings on Fridays at 12:00pm. All interested parties are welcome to attend these meetings – further details are available on our Web Site.

HL7 FHIR – INFORMATION SOURCES:

What is FHIR, where do I learn about FHIR and how do I start working with FHIR are probably the most frequently asked questions by newcomers to the standard. Well – the good news is that, in keeping with FHIR itself, there are numerous free-to-use artefacts. Links to a ‘starting dozen’ of these can be found in this  Reference Sheet produced by HL7 NZ.

In response to questions that we receive about FHIR adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand, we also recommend these sources of information…

Kiwis on FHIR on our Web Site – all additions and updates gratefully received!
Hira Marketplace (Te Whatu Ora) includes a list of APIs for key health information services, and digital services that support or help use health information and data.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

HiNZ eHealth Webinar – FHIRing up health interoperability…

Experts from both sides of the Tasman talk about the standards that promise to lift our health systems to new levels of interoperability for joined-up care and better user experience.

FHIR has become a household name as the standard that has moved health data exchange into the modern era. HL7 FHIR Project Director Grahame Grieve will speak about the community-led effort that has produced this now iconic standard and Kate Ebrill will talk about the new Australian FHIR Accelerator.

SNOMED CT puts the ‘fruit on the tree’, as world-leading terminology services provider CSIRO describes it. SNOMED is the standard that gives meaning on digital health records and makes health data truly interoperable.

Alastair Kenworthy will present the International Patient Summary (IPS), the new standard that knits together FHIR and SNOMED that enables borderless exchange of a patient summary and tells the consumer’s health story in digital form.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear Leigh Donoghue talk about the digital transformation that these developments enable.
Register here.

Digital Health Week 2023
Make sure to reserve your spot at New Zealand’s premier health information technology conference, Digital Health Week. HL7NZ and Te Whatu Ora will be hosting a pre-conference event you will want to attend: the 2-day IPS-athon on 27-28 November. The IPS-a-thon will be a hands-on opportunity to  exchange the International and NZ Patient Summaries. Technical and non-technical participants equally welcome, and there will be a special track for those new to FHIR. HL7NZ will also be hosting a stand in the Exhibition Hall.

Ngā mihi

Executive Board – HL7 New Zealand