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 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 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 collaborating 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 have the option to opt out if they prefer not to share their information.

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

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.