Once again it is my privilege to wish
you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year on behalf of HL7 New
Zealand.
In some ways it’s been a quiet year
in New Zealand, although there has been plenty of activity in the background,
both nationally where members of the Board have worked on local standards, and
internationally as HL7 International has worked through the issues raised by
making its standards free for anyone to use.
And in addition, there has been a
very significant amount of work being done on the latest HL7 standard – FHIR –
that has the potential to make healthcare interoperability significantly easier
to achieve. This is critical in this modern age where it is well acknowledged
that a person’s healthcare information needs to be available to them – and to
clinicians – in a wide range of situations and using a range of
devices.
Here in New Zealand we are working
towards a closer relationship with other organisations in the healthcare IT
space – members of the HL7 Board also serve on the HINZ Executive, we have a
strategic relationship with openEHR and representatives have also been appointed
to HISO. Hopefully we will be able to help accelerate the adoption of standards
in the New Year.
Next year we plan on being more active locally. We want to show that
standards can facilitate interoperability and innovation, so we are planning a
series of practical events that developers – and users – can participate in to
showcase this. Our hope is also that we can attract new vendors into the
healthcare IT space, and show that the initiatives embodied in the National IT
plan will make core clinical information more accessible to those who need it in
a manner that preserves the person’s privacy. More details will follow in the New
Year!
So I trust that 2013 has been a good
year for all of you...that 2014 will be even better and I wish you all the
compliments of the season.
Kind Regards,
David Hay
Chair, HL7 New Zealand