NEW ZEALAND HEALTH INFORMATION SERVICE

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Scope

Purpose
The Maternity and Newborn Collection (MNIS) provides information relating to maternity and newborn services up to 9 months before and 3 months after a birth.

Content
The MNIS contains data relating to maternity services provided under either section 51 of the Health and Disability Act 1993 or section 88 of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000, and inpatient health data from the NMDS.
Before 1 July 2002, approximately 70 percent of pregnancies were recorded (the other 30 percent were funded through non-standard contracts). From October 2002, all pregnancies are expected to be recorded in the MNIS collection.
The MNIS collection also contains census and geographical information provided by Statistics NZ.
The MNIS collection does not contain details of stillborn babies, as most stillborns are not assigned an NHI number at delivery or reported as separate patients to the NMDS. Some information about stillbirths is included in the Mortality Collection.

Start date

The MNIS collection contains information from March 1998.

Guide for use

The data in the MNIS collection is loaded from the HealthPAC maternity claims system, and the data quality of clinical information provided is variable. The clinical meaning of many of the input records must be inferred, as the records relate to payment for a service rather than to a clinical treatment. Data quality is expected to improve in the future. For further details refer to the MNIS Data Dictionary.

Contact information

For further information about this collection or to request specific datasets or reports, contact the NZHIS Analytical Services team, on ph 04 816 2882, fax 04 816 2898, or e-mail inquiries@nzhis.govt.nz.

Collection methods – guide for providers

Non-hospital events are reported to HealthPAC on standard forms by Lead Maternity Carers and specialists. HealthPAC enters the data into their maternity claims system.
When a birth event is included in the monthly extract from HealthPAC, the MNIS searches the NMDS for any inpatient events for the mother and baby occurring up to 9 months before and 3 months after the birth, and extracts all inpatient clinical data.

Frequency of updates

The MNIS collection receives monthly extracts from the HealthPAC maternity claims system and the NMDS.

Security of data

The MNIS collection is only accessed by authorised NZHIS staff for maintenance, data quality, audit and reporting purposes.
Access to MNIS data requires approval from the MNIS Advisory Group.

Privacy issues

When a pregnancy is registered, the woman signs a waiver that allows health data to be used for research under the Health Information Privacy Code 1994.
The Ministry of Health is required to ensure that the release of information recognises any legislation related to the privacy of health information, in particular the Official Information Act 1982, the Privacy Act 1993 and the Health Information Privacy Code 1994.
Information available to the general public is of a statistical and non-identifiable nature. Researchers requiring identifiable data will usually need approval from an Ethics Committee.

National reports and publications

The MNIS collection is the primary source of data for the annual Report on Maternity produced by the Ministry of Health. The first report was for 1999.

Data provision

If approval is obtained from the MNIS Advisory Group, customised datasets or summary reports can be provided, either electronically or on paper.
Staff from the NZHIS Analytical Services team can help to define the specifications for a request and are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the data.
The NZHIS Analytical Services team also offers a peer review service to ensure that data is reported appropriately when published by other organisations.
There may be charges associated with data extracts.



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