Te Whatu Ora on the look for clinical coding AI suppliers

Te Whatu Ora is seeking suppliers to join its AI-assisted clinical coding pilots for hospital admissions. 

The said pilot aims to verify whether AI techniques help improve the speed and accuracy of delivering care by reducing time for clinical coding, which remains a largely manual process. 

Hospitals in New Zealand are required to classify diagnoses, injuries, external causes of injuries and procedures and report them to the National Minimum Dataset within 21 days of the end of the month of discharge.

Latest vax management tools in NZ 

New Zealand's Ministry of Health, which is targeting to fully vaccinate 95% of all children across the country, recently announced two new digital tools for better managing immunisations.

My Health Record, built by redeveloping the old My Covid Record platform, now allows people to check their vaccination records as part of its first phase of implementation. Additional health information, including lab reports, will come soon, according to a media release. 

Another tool, the Aotearoa Immunisation Register (AIR), was recently expanded to allow health providers and vaccinators to view an individual's immunisation history and identify gaps to offer them any needed vaccinations. 

Expanding access to immunisation records, either via their existing patient management systems or the AIR Vaccinator Portal, also helps them to identify communities which require outreach support.  

2 of NT's busiest EDs may temporary return to old PHR system: report

Following alleged reports of complaints about the new Acacia patient health record system, NT Health is reportedly considering reverting to the previous system at least for the emergency departments at Royal Darwin Hospital and Palmerston Regional Hospital.

A news report citing a spokesperson of NT Health noted that the temporary measure is being eyed alongside performing system enhancements to the InterSystems TrakCare-based system. 

Should the enhancements proceed, Acacia will continue to be used in other departments of the hospitals. It will also remain live in both Katherine Hospital and Gove Hospital, where it was first implemented in 2022.