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The New Zealand government is still developing its investment plan for digital infrastructure in healthcare.
Recently, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand released its first Health Infrastructure Plan, which outlines “a national, long-term approach to renewing and expanding the country’s public health facilities.”
It is part of a 10-year investment plan that outlines “the principles and priorities that guide investment across physical and digital infrastructure and health technology.”
“The Digital Investment Plan is in development. The plan is being refined with stakeholder feedback and with a focus on funding and investment pathways,” Te Whatu Ora acting Chief Information Technology Officer Darren Douglass told Healthcare IT News when asked about the digital component of the plan.
He noted that digital services are broader in scope, covering such areas as consumer-facing and population health services and corporate users.
The aim, Douglass stressed, is to align digital and physical infrastructure and care service delivery.
“Health NZ expects to release it later this year.”
In a comment following last week’s release of the Health Infrastructure Plan, Digital Health Association (DHA) reiterated its call for a “more targeted investment in digital [health].”
“This includes a clear and funded strategy to replace legacy systems, reduce duplication, and invest in innovation, which would allow the health system to operate efficiently and cohesively,” said DHA CEO Ryl Jensen.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Te Whatu Ora is developing a decade-long investment plan to support the staged implementation of systemic changes that will enable greater service efficiency and digital models of care.
“A growing, ageing and more diverse population is placing increasing demand on health services and its supporting infrastructure,” it noted.
“Building infrastructure where our communities are growing and ageing is one part of the puzzle, but we must look to new models of care – including virtual and more digitally-enabled care – and changes to where we deliver care to have adequate capacity for New Zealand,” it emphasised.
The forthcoming Digital Investment Plan may finally illuminate the government’s plan for Hira, which had only completed its first implementation phase and has been on pause following a budget recall in June.
The government’s recent policy statement on health for 2024-2027 identified infrastructure – both digital and physical – as one of its five priority areas. It particularly expects to have digital infrastructure that enables the use of technology, such as telehealth and online mental health and addiction services.
This comes as it acknowledges that existing IT infrastructure networks and security are “outdated and unable to manage increased cybersecurity issues, or support evolving health service delivery in the home and within community facilities.” Last year, it was disclosed that the country’s health system had many of its over 4,000 clinical and business system applications at or close to their end-of-life, necessitating a move to lesser, more robust platforms and easing of new implementations.
Meanwhile, the government also expects over the next three years that health entities “establish an evidence-based decision-making process to develop and adopt digital and innovative solutions, including precision health, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence,” as well as technologies that enable care delivery at home.
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