SECTOR UPDATE - Digital Health Association

New Zealand Health IT (NZHIT) has rebranded as the Digital Health Association, as Aotearoa New Zealand continues to move into the fourth industrial revolution.

Digital Health Association chief executive Ryl Jensen says a feature of 2022 will be the continued and accelerated rise of virtual and eHealth developments, including analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, health apps and virtual reality.

“This is a worldwide shift, that sees the physical, digital and biological worlds coming together. The change will happen faster than anything we have seen before.

“The Digital Health Association has over 170 members, who are instrumental in the development and implementation of digital health for New Zealanders – and our new name reflects this. We will provide leadership and innovation in this new era.”

Ryl Jensen says our health and disability system increasingly relies on digital technologies and data for health care to be delivered.

“Digital health can literally be the difference between life and death. We are seeing that the day-to-day effectiveness of our health and disability system is due as much to our use of data and digital technologies, as to medical technologies, drugs and laboratory tests.”

She points to the COVID-19 response as showing the critical role digital health plays in keeping people safe.

“We have seen the development of solutions such as the Covid Tracer App, the national contact tracing solution, the COVID-19 immunisation register, and My Vaccine Pass.”

She says the Digital Health Association wants to see all New Zealanders benefitting from the health and wellbeing services that can be enabled by digital technologies.

“Ensuring access to the right information by the right people at the right time can improve safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of care.

“We want to work collaboratively with the Ministry of Health/Health New Zealand and other agencies leading our digital health transformation. The Digital Health Association would like to see an Aotearoa New Zealand that has a world-leading health and disability system, enabled by digital health.”

Source: Digital Health Association media release

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