NEW ZEALAND HEALTH INFORMATION SERVICE
Home > technical documentation > MHINC information
Mental Health Information Project
Contents:
In September 1997, the Minister of Health authorised the New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS) to develop a high-level, national database containing information on the provision of secondary mental health, and alcohol and drug services. This followed a pilot phase in which the Ministry of Health obtained assurances that the information identified could be collected in a way that was cost effective and which would have minimal impact on provider organisations.
Background
The Mental Health Information Project (MHIP) flowed from the acknowledged need for national-level information about the mental health sector. Existing national collections of information from mental health service providers are incomplete, inflexible and – in some instances – up to three years out of date. The objective of the MHIP is to provide complete, accurate and timely information on secondary mental health services. This will allow adequate monitoring of the implementation of the national mental health strategy and provide a database for research into the provision of mental health services. Information that does not identify individuals will also be available to providers, consumer groups, the Ministry of Health, the Health Funding Authority (HFA), the Mental Health Commission, and other interested parties in the sector.
Pilot
The pilot phase of the MHIP, which took place between March and May 1997, was successfully completed. This phase confirmed that it is possible to extract and store data, and to report on the information obtained from mental health service providers in a cost-effective manner.
National rollout
The national rollout will take up to three years to complete, and should be finished by July 2000. Information collected relates to the provision of secondary mental health and alcohol and drug services, which are purchased by the HFA. The HFA purchases these as part of their mental health and alcohol and drug contracting.
Data will be collected from hospital and health services and from non-government organisations, including inpatient and community services. It does not, as yet, include information on primary and mental health services.
The information collected will be stored in the Mental Health Information National Collection (MHINC) database. The MHIP has the endorsement of the Minister of Health and is supported by the HFA and the Mental Health Commission. Clinical and strategic advice is being obtained from the Policy Branch of the Ministry of Health.
A Privacy Impact Assessment has been conducted for the MHIP, and NZHIS is working towards meeting the recommendations. The information collected by the MHIP will comply with all aspects of the Health Information Privacy Code 1994. As NZHIS works with organisations it will ensure that providers are aware of their responsibilities under the Health Information Privacy Code. The information will be collected using the National Health Index (NHI) number (also referred to as the healthcare user number or HCU number). The information once collected will be stored with an encrypted NHI number to ensure the individual cannot be identified.
Benefits
The Ministry of Health has made a commitment to ensure that mental health services are available to those who need them. One of the objectives of the MHIP is to monitor the success of implementing this commitment by providing a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the mental health strategy with respect to the delivery of secondary care services.
Rolling out the MHIP will also ensure that compliance costs placed on providers are as low as possible by minimising duplication of reporting. NZHIS has worked with the HFA to identify which of their provider reporting requirements can be met from the information obtained by the MHIP. Once providers are able to comply with MHINC reporting requirements, their reporting to the HFA will be minimised.
Regular reports on national averages and benchmarking will also be available to mental health service providers.