The below article is found on the HINZ website, please refer to it for the original. https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/677885/Te-Waipounamu-PHOs-join-forces-on-data.htm
Te Waipounamu – South Island Primary Health Organisations (PHOs) have created a regional view of primary care data to help address healthcare disparities and enhance service delivery.
The unified data platform is a collaboration between the region’s eight PHOs, using DataCraft Analytics.
Damon Campbell, chief operating officer at WellSouth, says the proof of concept went live about seven months ago by aggregating registers from all the PHOs, representing an enrolled population of 1.1 million.
They established governance groups, including membership from the region’s two Iwi Māori Partnership Boards, to ensure representation and input from all stakeholders.
He says it is important to have Primary Care Data Sovereignty around data and what that looks like.
“This is not just about giving data to consumers or other stakeholders, it is about telling the story and the utility about what is happening in primary care,” Campbell explains.
By aggregating data at a regional level, the PHOs aim to identify gaps in activities like immunisation coverage and address them more effectively.
“For example, we can see that higher deprivation levels correlate with higher rates of vaccination decline,” Campbell says.
“This insight allows us to focus our efforts on communities with greater needs and develop strategies to overcome barriers to vaccination.”
Sara Shaughnessy, chief executive of Nelson Bays Primary Health and chair of the Te Waipounamu Governance Group, highlights the importance of understanding regional variations to address equity.
“We need to acknowledge that there is both unwanted and wanted variation in healthcare needs across regions,” she says.
The unified view means she can now see where investments are going and ensure that resources are directed to Māori, Pacific, and vulnerable populations.
Shaughnessy says that by consolidating data, they can support effective planning and investment to meet community needs, such as setting up local collaboratives to boost enrolment, immunisation and screening.
“We can now monitor immunisation rates in real-time and identify areas where interventions are needed,” she says.
“This allows us to deploy resources strategically and ensure that no community is left behind.”
WellSouth chief executive Andrew Swanson-Dobbs says the collective view of data could in future allow the group to work with academics and researchers on generating meaningful insights.
The Te Waipounamu PHOs plan to expand their data platform to include more comprehensive datasets and develop additional tools for healthcare planning and delivery.
“We have achieved a lot in a short amount of time, but there is still much more to do,” Swanson-Dobbs says.
“Our goal is to create a sustainable platform that continues to deliver valuable insights and support effective healthcare interventions.”
Campbell says the collaboration also sets a precedent for how healthcare organisations can work together to leverage data for collective impact.
“The willingness to collaborate and solve problems together has been more important than the technology itself,” Campbell says.
“By sharing data and insights, we can develop solutions that benefit the entire region.”