HL7 FHIR Connectathon #22
A record 420 attendees participated in the HL7 FHIR Connectathon #22, held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA on 14-15 September 2019. The combination of experienced FHIR developers and newcomers to the standard were divided into 38 specialist tracks varying from established areas of the specification, such as Patient and Terminology, to newer domains like genomics and major FHIR-based implementation projects notably ‘Da Vinci’. It was a hugely enjoyable and successful event – both in terms of advancing the FHIR specification and continuing to build the worldwide FHIR community.
HL7 New Zealand Spring News 2019
Hi Everyone – in the words of the song “spring is in the air” and this is reflected in a number of exciting new developments in New Zealand’s digital health landscape. In particular, we’ve seen the recentpublication of two documents of major significance for the implementation of our standards; namely the Ministry of Health’s
Digital, data and technology services – minimum requirements and the Interim Report of the New Zealand Health & Disability System Review. The later, while not containing specific recommendations (these are to appear in a the Final Report tabled for next year), contains strong messages about the need for interoperability standards as a critical enabler of digital health and the former clearly articulates the need for conformance to, and compliance with, those standards.
On a practical level, HL7NZ is fully supportiveof the planned national Health Information Platform(nHIP) as a replacement for the single Electronic Health Record project and we view APIs built using HL7®FHIR® as key building blocks for this Platform. This will enable New Zealand to extend and adapt, significant work already performed overseas and recently, as part of our strong relationship with HISO, we’ve been pleased to recommend the use of the International Patient Summary.
Following our successful Mid-Year Seminar, we’ve also been busy developing a new Web Site and we’re planning to update this with news and events on a regular basis. As you’ll see from the banner, New Zealand is celebrating 25 years of HL7 implementation and to mark this occasion, HL7 New Zealand will be presenting an Anniversary Award, at the 2019 HiNZ Conference in Hamilton, for “Consistent Support for HL7 Standards in New Zealand”. Candidates for this award are those current Organisational Members of HL7 New Zealand, who have used HL7 standards for a significant portion of the past 25 years. An account of those years can be found here.
Digital Health Week NZ – including HiNZ Conference 2019
We’re keenly anticipating New Zealand’s largest digital health event and this will include a Standards Workshop featuring HL7®FHIR®and SNOMED CT®, on Tuesday 19thNovember. Once again, HiNZ had kindly provided us with a Booth (#93) in the Conference Exhibition Hall and we encourage you all to pay us a visit there. We’ll also be holding our AGM at 12:30pm on Wednesday 20thNovember – all members welcome.
Further details can be found in the Conference Programme. Registrations can be made here and HL7NZ members are, once again, eligible for the special low “affiliate member” rate.
New Zealand celebrates 25 years as an HL7 Implementer
This year New Zealand is celebrating 25 years of HL7 implementation. To mark this occasion, HL7 New Zealand will be presenting an Anniversary Award, at the 2019 HiNZ Conference in Hamilton, for “Consistent Support for HL7 Standards in New Zealand”. Candidates for this award are those current Organisational Members of HL7 New Zealand, who have used HL7 standards for a significant portion of the past 25 years. An account of those years can now be found in the About—>History Page.
SNOMED CT® Events
International: SNOMED International Business Meetings and Expo: 27 Oct – 1 Nov 2019 – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
New Zealand Events
SNOMED CT® Developer Training Day: 6 Nov 2019 – Christchurch. Contact standards@health.govt.nz for free registration NOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED
SNOMED CT® Developer Training Day: 7 Nov 2019 – Auckland. Contact standards@health.govt.nz for free registration NOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED
NZHIT Event: FHIR for Implementers in New Zealand
NZHIT hosted the one-day workshop in Christchurch, “FHIR for Implementers in New Zealand” on 29 August 2019.
The event information below is from the event website:
You need to attend this one-day workshop if you’re planning, undertaking or want to know more about FHIR implementation.HL7 FHIR is the healthcare interoperability standard that has achieved global recognition.It is also endorsed locally by the New Zealand Health Information Standards Organisation (HISO), along with SNOMED, as the national terminology standard.
The Ministry of Health is fully behind this initiative, prescribing FHIR as the primary interface to the nHIP programme, and with projects underway to add FHIR interfaces to the NHI and the HPI.
This free workshop is sponsored by the Ministry of Health to help increase implementer knowledge about FHIR. There is no charge for you to attend BUT you must register quick as numbers are limited to 30 attendees.
Details
This full day workshop is being held in Christchurch on Thursday 29th August 2019 and will be delivered by Dr David Hay. David has been involved with FHIR from the very beginning and is currently a co-chair of the FHIR Management Group and HL7NZ Chair emeritus.
It is intended for anyone who is planning, undertaking or wants to up their game when it comes to FHIR implementation. It is particularly for – developers, clinicians, consumer representatives, project managers or any other member of the implementation team.
You do not need previous experience with FHIR.
This will be an interactive workshop. You’ll be able to get hands-on in a supportive environment so will need to bring your laptop (you just need a modern browser, such as chrome, installed).
The workshop’s programme will be published closer to the time, but the following is an overview of what you’ll be involved with on the day –
The morning session will include an overview of FHIR, explore more advanced topics like profiling and terminology then review the tooling available to help understand how FHIR is used to represent real scenarios, and exchange information.
This will lead you into the afternoon session where you’ll dig deeper into the technical aspects of building FHIR clients and servers with a deep dive into the RESTful interface, including security aspects such as SMART.
You’ll be able to play in a sample ecosystem that includes prototypes of the NHI & HPI interfaces as well as conformance, data, terminology and authentication servers.
You’ll also have time for exercises to show just how easy it is to build with FHIR (you’ll need an IDE of some sort, or a REST client, for these).
The workshop will wrap up at the end of the day with a discussion on the next steps – how can we realise the patient-centered ecosystem in New Zealand.
This event is limited to 30 people, so be in quick to guarantee your place.
Venue to be confirmed in Christchurch shortly.
Thanks to –
Ministry of Health for sponsoring this event
NZHIT as the organisers
HL7NZ for their on-going support and promotion of interoperability standards
HL7NZ Mid-Year Seminar 2019
HL7® FHIR® and SNOMED CT® Implementation Workshop
Wednesday 19 June 2019, Novotel Auckland Airport
HL7 New Zealand (HL7NZ) held its Annual Mid-Year Seminar at the Novotel Hotel, Auckland Airport on Wednesday 19th June. This year’s Event was an HL7® FHIR® and SNOMED CT ® Implementation Workshop consisting of a FHIR Connectathon and a series of interactive presentations from a range of speakers.
Keynotes were delivered by Peter Marks, Manager of Architecture & Standards at the Ministry of Health and Scott Arrol, CEO of NZHIT. Peter provided updates on the latest work from the Data and Digital Team, notably the National Health Infomation Platform, and Scott delivered an impassioned customer perspective on achieving the benefits of digital healthcare
The Connectathon, led by HL7NZ Chair Emeritus Dr David Hay, facilitated community involvement in a project, commissioned by the Ministry of Health, to develop FHIR APIs for the National Health Index (NHI) and Health Provider Index (HPI). This form of engagement echoes how the worldwide FHIR Project itself has operated and it is hoped that it will prove to be as successful in a local context.
HL7NZ Chair Peter Jordan facilitated the Presentation Stream, which articulated a variety of key issues relating to the implementation of both FHIR and SNOMED CT in New Zealand and the potential role of these standards in improving healthcare outcomes. The group also considered how to progress the development of an active, engaged and collaborative standards community consisting of all stakeholders.
The Event concluded with both groups combining to pose a series of questions to a Panel consisting of the day’s presenters. This session was recorded for use in the first of a series of Podcasts to be hosted by HL7NZ. Something to look out for in the coming weeks in the build up to the next standards event at Digital Health Week NZ in November!
Acknowledging the support of SYSMEX New Zealand for their ongoing support of our annual mid-year seminars
Emerging Tech in Health
Emerging Tech in Health – a collaboration between HiNZ & NZHIT – 21-22 May, Christchurch
This symposium will focus on models of care, and how they will change and be delivered. The presentations will have a clinical and patient outcome focus whilst highlighting how technology will be developed and used to support these outcomes. HL7NZ Members are eligible for the special low “affiliate member” ticket rates…
$199 for one day (normally $369) or $299 for both days (normally $499)
You can read more details about the programme and speakers here.
Women in Health IT Conference
Empowering women as leaders in Healthcare IT – 27 May, Auckland
The Women in Health IT conference brings together established and emerging leaders from across sectors and cultures to work towards gender equity in health leadership and to improve health for all. This event will address the gender gap in health information and technology, and the need for more community, resources and recognition of women who have made a difference sector-wide. Engage with your peers and take the next step to further your career while connecting with and empowering women in our field. MORE DETAILS
Christmas Message 2018
| “And so this is Christmas and what have you done?”Is question posed by one of the most widely-played songs at this time of the year. In response, I could reflect upon another productive year for our Affiliate and indeed did do so in my recent Chairman’s Report to the HL7 NZ Board. Certainly, from an International viewpoint, it’s been a year of terrific progress. HL7® FHIR® continues to take the outside world by storm and its adoption by “Tech Titans” (such as Apple, Google & Microsoft), major overseas Health IT Vendors and Government Digital Health Agencies grows by the month. We now await the upcoming Release 4 which will contain the first normative content. The progress of the FHIR Project, including the significant part played by HL7NZ members, is detailed in the Reports from the International Working Group meetings that we’ve attended this year. Outside of these meetings, HL7NZ members have participated in a number of key working groups, often in co-chair positions, including a collaboration project between HL7 International and SNOMED International – not surprisingly known as ‘SNOMED on FHIR’. So far, so good – but what’s this year’s key health information interoperability message from Aotearoa? Well, we’ve delivered events focussing on practical usage of these standards and attempted to engage the implementer community as best we can to facilitate the interoperable use of FHIR. Throughout the Sector as a whole, there have been numerous analogue conversations around and about digital health issues, but very little discernible progress on interoperability – particularly in terms of creating the open APIs that might facilitate secure and appropriate access to healthcare information for the new generation of bespoke healthcare apps. O Data Portability where art thou? This frustrating state of affairs was neatly encapsulated in an entertaining story told by a hospital emergency department doctor at last month’s HiNZ Conference. The punch line involved the husband of an overseas patient photographing a printed discharge summary on his mobile phone and then ripping up the paper copy having established that no digital information could flow between the FHIR API on his phone and any software application or device at the hospital. The stuff of future comedy sketches perhaps – like expectant Americans seeking international class service in 1970s Britain? A further reminder of the distance between our nascent digital health strategy and cold reality came a fortnight later as I completed a four page paper form at a DHB Skin Lesion Clinic detailing everything available at the click of a button in my primary care portal. The later would be invaluable to any clinician, although those of us without medical qualifications might prefer to download this information, via (of course) a FHIR API, to be presented, in consumer-friendly fashion, by a health and wellness app of our own choice. At the HL7NZ events we’ve uncovered a non-trivial amount of usage of FHIR APIs, but mainly in restricted two-party exchanges and our attempts at further engagement have often met with a stony silence from the custodians of our health data silos: FHIR behind ‘closed doors’. Let’s hope that some of these barriers will be removed in 2019 and we can utilise FHIR to make interoperability easier and cheaper to implement. Finally, on a more festive, note, I’d like to extend sincere thanks to all of our members and benefactors (notably the Digital and Data Services Team at the Ministry of Health) for their support in the past year and I hope that you and your families all enjoy a well-earned Christmas and New Year break. I look forward to continuing to work together with you on the seemingly long road to interoperable health information in 2019. Seasons’ Greetings Peter Jordan, Chairman HL7 New Zealand December 16, 2018 |
HL7NZ FHIR Connectathon Nov 20, 2018 – Information for Participants
Many thanks for registering for New Zealand’s first ‘official’ HL7® FHIR® Connectathon.As previous advised the Connectathon will be divided into ‘Tracks’ focussing on specific topics of interest to the NZ Health & Disability Sector…
- Patient – FHIR Introduction (Lead Dr David Hay, FHIR Management Group)
- Adverse Event Reporting (Lead Dr David Hay, Chair Emeritus HL7NZ)
- Terminology Services (Lead: Dr Michael Lawley, Co-Chair SNOMED on FHIR)
- Directory Services (Lead: John Carter, HL7NZ Board Member)
- Health Pathways (Lead: Brian Postlethwaite, FHIR Core Team)
In order to assist in our preparations, we request that you to register with the Connectathon Manager App and indicate the Track(s) in which you wish to participate. This App contains further details about each Track, including links to further information and resources that will enhance your Connectathon Experience.Those who are intending to bring devices to participate interactively should note that the preferred (but not mandatory) version of FHIR to use is Release 4 September Ballot and that links to various technical resources can be found on the Downloads Page in the FHIR Specification.If you have any further suggestions or questions about the workshop content,please email HL7 chair Peter Jordan.Alternatively we recommend that you join the FHIR Chat Site and subscribe to the New Zealand Stream to join in the interactive conversations on the HL7NZ FHIR Connectathon Thread.We look forward to seeing you all in Wellington!