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Health Information Standards Organisation

HISO logo

Our purpose

HISO (2010)’s purpose is to support and promote the development, understanding and use of fit-for-purpose health information standards to improve the New Zealand health system.

Who we are

HISO (2010) is an advisory group to the National Health Information Technology Board (NHITB), which sits under the National Health Board (NHB). The HISO (2010) Committee is supported by an office located within the Ministry of Health’s National Health Board Business Unit (NHBBU).

HISO (2010) members are drawn from the following organisation/groups:
  • Medical Council of New Zealand
  • Nursing Council of New Zealand
  • Chief Medical Officers Forum
  • DHB CIOs Forum
  • Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)
  • Primary Care Information Management Group (PCIM)
  • Health Informatics New Zealand Executive
  • NZ Health IT Cluster
  • Consumer representative
  • Ministry of Health

What we do

HISO (2010)'s key roles and tasks include:
  • providing standards related advice to support the National Health IT plan and the agenda set by NHITB including recommending the way forward in relation to health information standards, their development and implementation
  • promoting the benefits and use of health information standards across the health and disability sector
  • ensuring that the health information standards developed are needs based, fit for purpose, useful and implementable
  • ensuring that health information standards developed are in accordance with the foundation principles of standards development
  • formally validating appropriately developed health information standards and approving them for publication
  • reviewing, and revising as required, the processes around the health information standards lifecycle.

Our support office

The Role of the HISO Office is to support HISO (2010) by:
  • providing support to HISO (2010 ) to enable them to achieve their goals
  • providing the sector with expert advice on the development of standards, including any relevant international standards that could be adopted or adapted for use in NZ
  • facilitating the preparation of proposals for the development of new health information standards and any updates required to existing health information standards
  • promoting the use of health information standards across the health and disability sector.

Meeting schedule:
  • 13 January 2010
  • 23 March 2010
  • 25 May 2010
  • 28 July 2010

Our History
Prior to 2003Standards New Zealand developed all health information standards.
2003In response to the Working to Add Value through E-information Report the then Minister of Health set up the Health Information Standards Organisation (HISO), as a Ministerial Committee, to lead the development and implementation of health information standards in New Zealand.
2005The Health Information Strategy for New Zealand (HIS-NZ) was published and HISO became a sub-committee of the newly formed Health Information Strategy Action Committee (HISAC), a Ministerial Committee with responsibility for providing governance, oversight and leadership for the implementation of HIS-NZ.
2008Minister of Health announced a re-focusing and reconstitution of HISAC, as the Health Information Strategy Advisory Committee, under a revised Terms of Reference. With that reconstitution, responsibility for the activities of the HISO sub-committee moved temporarily into the Health System Interoperability and Standards (HSIS) team in the Information Strategy and Architecture (ISA) Group of the Ministry’s Information Directorate (ID).
2009August, the Minister of Health released the 'Meeting the Challenge' Report by the Ministerial Review Group (MRG). This report led to the establishment of:
o National Health Board
o National Health IT Board
o a new standards advisory group, named the Health Information Standards Organisation (2010).
2010The Health Information Standards Organisation (2010) provides health information standards related support and advice to the National Health IT Board.

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Page last updated: 27 April 2010