with a GP were registered to use a patient portal. This was an increase of 24 percent from the year before and prior to Covid-19 arriving on our shores. However, it should be noted that not all of those enrolled are using their patient portal frequently and not all of them have access to their record as this is dependent on the functionality turned on for them by their GP/GP practice. GPNZ Chair, Dr Jeff Lowe recently observed that while having a quarter of eligible patients registered nationally is an improvement, it is still a “pretty poor uptake” given that portals have been available for more than a decade. Consumer held records – the future is still waiting Back in 2018, there were an emerging number of vendors who were starting to provide consumer held records to enable individuals to manage their health and wellness. These vendors provide consumer held records that integrate and share information with provider systems leveraging modern interoperability standards. In other health systems around the world, Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of modern interoperability standards to provide consumers with access to summaries of their care with providers across multiple care settings. These emerging vendors have also been joined by an explosion of new start-ups looking to provide consumers with better health and wellness experiences. A number of
culture, market, industry, or process that is caused by, or expressed through, digital capabilities, channels, or assets. In the context of health, digital disruption occurs when an organisation (usually a new organisation) looks to provide health and wellness services leveraging digital capabilities but importantly are not constrained by the existing business model or infrastructure.
Covid-19: has it been the catalyst for digital transformation?
Many in the sector believed that Covid-19 was the ‘crisis’ that would accelerate digital transformation, with an increased focus on providing improved digital experiences for New Zealanders to manage their own health and wellness. In early 2021, a year after our first lockdown, we are yet to make significant progress to empower New Zealanders by providing more access and control to their own health information or through tools such as consumer held records. If we take GP patient portals as a proxy for New Zealanders’ appetite to access a record of their care (admittedly a record curated by their GP versus a consumer held record where New Zealanders can create and augment their profile with information from other health providers) it is interesting to note the latest adoption numbers. In September 2020, a quarter of all New Zealanders (1.2 million) enrolled
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