New Zealand has been a world leader in adoption and use of EMRs by primary care physicians. Why is this? A number of factors have contributed to the success. This briefing document by Denis Protti and Tom Bowden analyzes the challenges and solutions that have been identified in New Zealand. It is well worth reading.
The Commonwealth Fund - Compared with other developed nations, New Zealand's use of information technology (IT) in health care is among the highest in the world. All of the country's 1,100 general practices use an electronic medical record system with comprehensive functionality to manage patient's problem lists, enter clinical progress notes, perform electronic prescribing, and order laboratory tests and x-rays, among other tasks. Physicians are also increasingly using information technology to communicate with patients and allow them to schedule appointments. New Zealand also stands out in terms of interoperability, with primary care providers, hospitals, radiology providers, and pathology laboratories, as well as most specialists able to use standard messaging to communicate with each other. This issue brief describes New Zealand's primary health care system, discusses its successes and challenges in adopting and promoting health IT, and draws lessons for the United States.
"Excellent article. There is much here that would be successful in BC and other provinces in Canada, if governments were more open to forming partnerships with private companies instead of stifling entrepreneurial innovations.
The use of Standards tied to HL7 messaging is essential for progress to be made in interoperability for messaging amongst physicians and to/from health authorities. Electronic messaging is the single most important stimulus to adoption by physicians of EMR's, in my opinion."
Mel Petreman, MD
Posted by: Mel Petreman | September 16, 2010 at 09:05 AM