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