NZ IT Metrics On Top for Complex Needs Patients

A recent Commonwealth Fund survey and paper published in Health Affairs suggests that New Zealand’s Primary Care Health IT systems are narrowly leading the way compared to nine other countries. The comparison is in metrics identified as being important for primary care physicians caring for patients with complex needs.

The paper identified three metrics measured in 2012 and 2015 that contribute to primary care physicians caring for patients with complex health needs. The overall use of an electronic medical record (EMR) by respondents; the routine use of electronic reminders for screening and recall; and the electronic exchange of clinical summaries with other doctors.

It should be noted that the survey was not undertaken to rank countries and the original paper does not provide a combined mean of the 2012 and 2015 metrics. These calculations have been based on the data presented which were the results by country for each metric. Satisfaction with EMR was not included in the rank as it was not reported for 2012 data.

Since 2012, the US, Norway and Canada have made significant gains in these three metrics, ahead of New Zealand. Both the US and Canada are both ranked along way down the list at 7th and 10th positions respectively. In 2012 the United Kingdom had the highest metrics with Norway and Australia swapping places in the rankings. Australia is the only country to have dropped more than a place on the back of the least improvement in metrics at only a mean change of 3 percent in three years.

The survey also asked respondents how satisfied they were with their EMR. New Zealand only ranks in the top half at fifth position behind the UK, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

The full Commonwealth Fund article can be read here.