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

Autumn 2022 Update

Kia ora koutou,

As summertime turns slowly into autumn, in the now virtual world of standards development HL7 International is Soliciting Feedback concerning the roadmap for FHIR R5. In addition to the feedback options cited in the FHIR Product Director’s Post, you are welcome to send your views to us. We are particularly interest in hearing from members who have compelling reasons to move to the R4B and R5 versions when they are available.

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. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Board would also like to acknowledge the re-branding of one of our key partners New Zealand Health IT to the ‘Digital Health Association’ and wish them all the best for the upcoming launch on March 14^th. 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.

The transitioning of the Health Sector contains apace and last week our friends in the HISO Office moved to the new Interim Health New Zealand organisation. We wish them well in their new ‘home’.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

A joint decision has been made with our HISO partners to wait until in-person events resume before holding our joint workshop Escape from Burning Platforms with SNOMED on FHIR. This is now likely to take place during Digital Health Week NZ in November at the Claudelands Arena in Hamilton.

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 . We are also planning another joint FHIR Connectathon with HL7 Australia, possibly in late April.

Ngā mihi

Executive Board – HL7 New Zealand

Chairman’s Xmas Message

Kia ora koutou,

2021 has proved to be another taxing year for everyone and it’s hard to recall a year when everyone has been looking forward quite so eagerly to the holiday season! However, it’s also been a year of great progress and achievements in digital health with implementers rising to the challenges raised by the ongoing pandemic.
 
In the standards world, we have recently celebrated the 10th year anniversary of HL7® FHIR® and this year has seen another major growth in its use both worldwide and in New Zealand. Certainly the year’s highlight, from an Affiliate viewpoint, has been the support we’ve been able to offer the local community via our New Zealand Base FHIR Implementation Guide and a series of webinars in which our members have demonstrated the use of FHIR in their products and services.
 
Naturally, we have continued to miss meeting our members in person, but virtual communication platforms have enabled us to maintain regular contact and, somewhat ironically, facilitate wider engagement with the worldwide FHIR community – particularly for those not adverse to unsocial hours! I would also like to acknowledge the wonderful level of engagement provided by our partners at HiNZ, NZHIT and The Ministry of Health – barely a week seems to pass without at least one of them providing a ‘must attend’ virtual event.
 
While the course of the pandemic remains uncertain, the year is ending on some optimistic notes, in particularly the funding allocation for Hira, the National Health Information Platform Project. HL7 New Zealand looks forward to supporting this critical ecosystem of data and digital services by adding further FHIR conformance artefacts to our Base Implementation Guide. This work, together with progressing the International Patient Summary, is underpinned by our recently-renewed MOU with HISO
 
On a personal note, the year ended with the closure of Patients First Ltd, my long-term client and a leading implementer and supporter of HL7 standards in national projects. I would like to take this opportunity for thank all involved for their incredible support over the past decade, or so, and wish them well in their new endeavours.
 
Finally, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all our members and other industry partners for their support and engagement in the past year and I hope that you and your families enjoy a well-earned Christmas and New Year break. See you all in 2022 – hopefully, in person!
 
Ngā mihi o te wā,
 
Peter Jordan, Chairman HL7 New Zealand
December 19, 2021

HL7® FHIR® NZ Base Implementation Guide Published

We have just published the first 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 (exclusively extensions, identifiers, and terminologies in this version). It is an ‘abstract’ artefact from which all other FHIR Implementation Guides in New Zealand may be derived, and we hope that it will be a valuable resource for the local FHIR community.
 
As it is a ‘living’ artefact, work on the next version will commence later this month, 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.

October 2021 News

We are delighted to announce that an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Health Information Standards Organisation (HISO) was signed on 1^st October 2021. The MoU exists to recognise the respective roles of both organisations and the ways in which they can work together to use standards for the good of interoperability in the New Zealand health and disability system, and to play our part in the international standards community,
 
Congratulations to HL7 New Zealand Chair Peter Jordan for being re-elected as an Affiliate Director on the HL7 International Board for a further two-year term. Peter has also been elected, as an Affiliate Representative, to the recently formed HL7 International Terminology Services Management Group.