Shared Digital Health Record

The Shared Digital Health Record is a data service designed to securely share patient data across healthcare settings.

The Shared Digital Health Record will securely share patient data across healthcare settings. Over time, healthcare providers nationwide will be able to access and update a patient's core health information through this new service. Providers will have secure access to critical health information such as allergies, adverse reactions, conditions, encounters, and observations.

In the first phase of the project, Health NZ is working with primary care providers who opt in, to collect and share read-only versions of data held in practice management systems (PMSs). This data will be accessible through existing shared patient record systems.

Healthcare consumers will be able to opt out if they prefer not to share their information. Details about the opt-out process are currently being confirmed.

Further development of the Shared Digital Health Record, subject to funding, will expand access to other parts of the health system, including first responders, hospitals, and specialist services. Additional types and sources of health information from various care settings will also be integrated.

With patient consent, health professionals will be able to securely access health information at any time, including during emergencies. For instance, if someone is unconscious in an emergency department, the Shared Digital Health Record will provide rapid access to potentially life-saving information about their allergies, medications, and medical history.

Updates

July 2025

At a glance

The Shared Digital Health Record is a data service designed to securely share patient data across healthcare settings. Over time, healthcare providers nationwide will be able to access and update a person's core health information through this new service.

The new national data service will be available to existing shared electronic health record (SEHR) systems and other shared patient record systems.

Phase one of the Shared Digital Health Record data service project runs until December 2025 and will enable the sourcing of data from participating general practices to the Shared Digital Health Record. It is expected that data will begin to be shared through SEHRs from early to mid-2026.

Following this, it is planned to expand the data service to include other primary and secondary care datasets. Urgent care, emergency services and telehealth providers will have access to the new data service as a priority.

Shared Digital Health Record data – supporting patient care

The primary purpose of the new data service is to support the delivery of clinical care to New Zealanders by making their clinical record securely available to healthcare providers nationally, where and when it is needed.

The information collected for the Shared Digital Health Record data service will not be used to support system administration, planning and performance monitoring, or health system administration such as payments or claims.

Shared Digital Health Record APIs will be available to all existing SEHR suppliers

Shared Digital Health Record APIs will be on the Health New Zealand (Health NZ) Digital Services Hub and will be available to all Shared Electronic Health Record (SEHR) suppliers from the same date. Suppliers are expected to be able to onboard to the APIs to integrate with the new Shared Digital Health Record patient data service from October 2025.

Digital services suppliers are encouraged to register with the Digital Services Hub now, so they are ready to leverage the APIs once they are available. The Health NZ website has a step-by-step introduction on how to integrate software with Health NZ digital assets (Digital asset subscriber onboarding (external link)) as well as further information about the Shared Digital Health Record (external link) data service.

The onboarding process for digital services suppliers will begin once the APIs are available. More information about the Shared Digital Health Record data service is available on the Health NZ website.
Shared Digital Health Record – Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora (external link)

Adoption of HealthOne by some lower North Island PHOs

Health NZ welcomes the decision of lower North Island primary health organisations (PHOs) Tū Ora Compass Health, Te Awakairangi Health Network, and Health Hawke’s Bay to adopt the HealthOne SEHR, enabling wider sharing of patient health information. Once in place, the health information of people from general practices with the HealthOne SEHR will be able to be securely shared between the South Island and lower North Island.

It should be noted that the HealthOne adoption and the Shared Digital Health Record are two different projects. The Shared Digital Health Record, once available, will enhance the data provided through SEHRs such as HealthOne and Your Health Summary.

HealthOne, like other SEHRs, will be able to onboard to the Shared Digital Health Record data service once it is available later this year.

Participation of general practices

General practices have the choice whether or not to participate in the Shared Digital Health Record data service. Once onboarded, participating practices will contribute data to the data service. The Shared Digital Health Record will not have access to data from practices until appropriate agreements are in place and the practice is participating.

Each practice will be guided through a practice onboarding process. More information about this process is being developed and will be shared with general practices as soon as possible.

It is expected data will begin to be sourced from participating general practices by the end of 2025 and will begin to be available through the Shared Digital Health Record from early to mid-2026.

Once the new data service is in place, general practices which use SEHRs that integrate with it will be able to access information about patients who live outside the region their SEHR currently covers. This will greatly increase the coverage and breadth of information available through existing SEHRs. Confirming privacy and security requirements The Shared Digital Health Record team is working with privacy experts, including the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, primary care and general practice representatives, and cyber security experts, to ensure robust security, privacy and data sharing practices are in place before data is shared. Privacy and consent information materials will be provided to general practices by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.

Engaging with healthcare consumers and primary care

Consumer engagement: Over coming months, Health NZ will be engaging with healthcare consumers so that people and their whānau have an opportunity to give feedback on the best ways we can support making their health information securely available to health professionals. We are also seeking to understand the choices and options consumers want when their health information is shared. Previous engagement with consumers, including that undertaken as part of the Hira Programme, will feed into the focus group findings.

Online focus groups with general practice: There will also be engagement with general practice in August, with a focus on participation, roles and responsibilities, privacy / control / consent and understanding the support needed to implement the new data sharing service.

What information is likely to be shared from practice management systems?

Where possible data for the Shared Digital Health Record will be sourced from existing national collections, such as the Aotearoa Immunisation Record. This data will be enhanced with important clinical information that exists solely in practice management systems (PMSs). This information includes allergies, adverse reactions, conditions, encounters and observations. Information in clinical notes (consultation, progress notes, etc) and any information marked as ‘sensitive’ will not be shared.

PMS technical releases relating to Shared Digital Health Record – no action needed

Some PMS suppliers have begun including information or checkboxes in technical releases relating to future data collection for the Shared Digital Health Record. These are currently inactive. General practices do not need to take any action in relation to them at this time.

June 2025

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora has advised a new date for the end of the first phase of the Shared Digital Health Record project. The project had been aiming for a June 2025 production readiness date. However various internal and external factors mean a December 2025 timeline is now more realistic.

Health NZ Digital Services is working on a revised timeline, that will include the following.

Confirming privacy and security requirements, including advising patients about data collection. This includes working with our sector partners on consumer and sector engagement.
Working with primary care providers who opt in, to collect and share read-only versions of data held in practice management systems (PMSs). This data will be accessible through existing shared electronic health record systems (SEHRs).
Shared Digital Health Record APIs becoming available on the Digital Services Hub.
Onboarding primary care providers and existing SEHRs to the Shared Digital Health Record APIs.

More detail on the above will be provided by Digital Services in the coming weeks.

The revised Shared Digital Health Record timeline does not affect the roll out of the 24/7 digital health service.

May 2025

Working with primary care

We understand that general practices have a number of questions about the Shared Digital Health Record data service, including timeframes, general practice requirements, privacy and consent considerations, how it will work with existing SEHRs, what data will be shared and who will view it. Health NZ is working with stakeholders to answer these questions and confirm timeframes as soon as possible.

We recognise that general practices supporting the Shared Digital Health Record data service need a reasonable lead-in time. We can confirm there is no expectation of any go-live for general practice in June.

Our intention is that Health NZ will manage the relationship with practice management system (PMS) vendors and make data available to SEHR services. Over time we will extend access to hospital information and national repositories (eg, for medications, and lab test results).

We anticipate that existing arrangements regarding SEHRs, including practice on-boarding, patient opt off arrangements, audit, programme management, clinical governance etc, will continue as they do today. We are working with stakeholders to develop a procurement approach to the SEHR delivery and management function.

APIs will be available on the Digital Services Hub later this year

The Shared Digital Health Record will be a Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources- (FHIR) based data service, with application programming interfaces (APIs) expected to be made available gradually on the Digital Services Hub (a centralised platform that allows developers to gain access to Health NZ digital assets) later in the year.

Introduction to the Digital Hub Services

Onboarding developers to the APIs will then begin. This will be a technical go-live; the next stage is onboarding general practices and accessing data – timeframes for this stage are to be confirmed. This will be a technical release only, relating to the availability of APIs to developers, and occurs well before any identifiable PMS data sharing will begin.

The current focus is on sharing primary care data and the Shared Digital Health Record team is working with primary care SEHR providers. Over time, other datasets will be included. The Shared Digital Health Record data service will not only contain primary care data but also data from national collections such as immunisations and the National Health Index.

Digital services suppliers wanting to integrate with the Shared Digital Health Record data service are encouraged to register with the Digital Services Hub now and go through the risk assessment, so they are ready to leverage the Shared Digital Health Record APIs.

Digital asset subscribers onboarding

Privacy and security

Ensuring people’s data privacy and security is key.

Health NZ will be transparent about how data is being used and there will be a simple process if healthcare consumers wish to opt out.
Any current privacy/confidentiality notifications about patient data in primary care systems will be observed. ·
If a patient has given permission, patient information can only be accessed for the purposes of delivering healthcare, other than for specific and tightly controlled exemptions.
It is expected that clinical users will only access a person’s record with patient permission, unless there is a strong justification for doing otherwise, such as in an emergency situation.
Access to patient information will be monitored and audited, and people will be able to request details of who is accessing their records.

Working with communities and primary care

There will be a community engagement plan and approach, with reference to previous consumer research, including that undertaken as part of the Hira Programme.
The Health NZ Shared Digital Health Record programme team is working closely with the primary care sector to determine what data is made available for clinical use and how it will be used and kept safe.