Ministry of Health

Ministry of Health

Context

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is the Government's principal agent and advisor on health and disability. It develops policy advice for the Government on health and disability issues, administers health regulations and legislation, funds health and disability support services, plans and maintains nationwide frameworks and specifications of services, monitors sector performance and provides information to the wider health and disability sector and the public.

The Ministry has responsibilities for Information Systems (IS) as a government department, and for the Health Sector.

Ministry of Health E-government Initiatives

• Mobile access,
• Single point access
• EHealth
• ProClaim
• Work streams outlined in ISSP

Summary

Ready Access: MoH provides ready access to information and services on its websites and via the government portal. More metadata records could be created, and additional information could be added to the MoH website to provide better access to health information and services.

Alignment: MoH's increasing use of the Internet to exchange information and provide services to people within the health sector, aligns well with the E-government Strategy. MoH has many initiatives to improve the use of the Internet and networks in the Ministry and in the health sector.

Internet and Communications Technology

To improve MoH's planning, co-ordination and delivery of information services, all information technology activity across the Ministry has been amalgamated within a single group - Information Technology Shared Services. A Programme Management Office has been established to coordinate and increase awareness of all projects involving IS.

The MoH Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) outlines the major issues, priorities, expectations, actions and projects for the Ministry's IS. The ISSP focuses on a number of key themes, that include: mobile access to information, training, improvements to the staff portal to reduce reliance on email, improving IS support, information storage, using IS to support and coordinate customer and stakeholder relationships, and single point access to all data collections.

The themes are being addressed in five work streams that are documented in the ISSP. The work streams include a Web Strategy, a National Applications Strategy, a Data and Information Strategy, a Ministry Systems and Infrastructure Strategy, and a Service Delivery and Capability Framework.

Generally, websites for the public are informational. The majority of websites are aimed at people within the health sector, and include the District Health Board (DHB) Toolkit, Elective Services, and the New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS), which provides information and access to health-related data.

NZHIS is a MoH business unit that uses the Internet to provide some services for DHBs, including access to the National Health Index (NHI), issuing of medical warnings, and collections and payments. One of NZHIS' initiatives being undertaken is the NHI Upgrade Programme, which intends to create and improve information-sharing networks amongst health and disability support services.

HealthPAC is another MoH business unit. It uses the Internet to support capitation payments for Primary Health Organisations, and managing the General Medical Subsidy and pharmacy subsidies. The Internet facilitates the electronic submission of patient registration, the validation of registration information with the national data set (including the NHI), batch geo-coding of patient street address, and the de-duplication of records among provider organisations. HealthPAC has implemented a new claim process system called ProClaim, to enable faster and more reliable turnaround of payments.

Within the wider health sector, a health sector information framework has been developed and implementation plans for it are now being developed. MoH is working with DHBs to coordinate IS developments. Generally, the intention is to help DHBs prioritise IS developments, and standardise systems and coordinate initiatives - taking into consideration geographic, ethnicity, and population age differences between DHBs.

Other MoH e-government initiatives include developing a minimum dataset that can be shared across numerous applications, removing the information gaps between in-patient databases and discharge data, and introducing additional online claiming capabilities. A Health Practitioner's index, and collaborative work with the Accident Compensation Corporation to develop the Privacy, Authentication, Security (PAS) project are ongoing initiatives.

Ready Access to Information and Services

Metadata

MoH has 75 metadata records. The majority of MoH's services are aimed at health professionals and intermediaries, as health services are contracted out.

As the scope of the government portal has expanded beyond just being focused on public-facing services, there is a need for MoH to create additional metadata to provide more extensive coverage of its services, both for the public and for health professionals/intermediaries.

Website Assessment

Websites assessed during June 2004 included:

www.moh.govt.nz
www.healthed.govt.nz
www.electiveservices.govt.nz
www.nrl.moh.govt.nz
www.nzhis.govt.nz
www.medsafe.govt.nz
www.maorihealth.govt.nz
www.healthywomen.org.nz

Overall, the MoH websites are of a good standard. The Health Education website is of a particularly high standard.

The strengths of the sites are in accessibility and information delivery. In future, usability and required government content could be improved.

Key quality issues noted during the assessment included:

• Good range, depth and presentation of information and services content.
• Usability and site navigation could be improved for easier use.
• Missing website policies mean people are unsure about feedback, privacy, copyright and complaints.
• Required email addresses are not available or were not answered during the assessment.
• Some missing accessibility features, such as navigation skipping and style sheet problems may impede some physically impaired people's access.
• Some broken links prevent people from accessing some content.
• Some documents are in PDF only, excluding those people who are unable or unwilling to read this format.
• Contact details could be more specific to enable responsive handling of enquiries.
• More links to other relevant content would be useful.

Alignment With E-government Goals

Convenience and Satisfaction

MoH provides only a few services to the public, such as scanning and immunisation registries. MoH also provides some information for the public on its websites, including links to external sources. MoH's work to coordinate IS and e-government initiatives within the health sector will improve access to information.

Integration and Efficiency

MoH has a number of initiatives outlined in its ISSP to integrate and facilitate information and data sharing throughout the health sector. Further development of information sharing standards, including national indexes, will facilitate system integration.

Participation

MoH encourages people to participate in government. Consultation documents are available online, and websites include instructions on how to make a submission and where to send it.