eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth - February 15, 2022

A new shared care record has gone live across the country for clinicians involved in the care of Covid patients in the community.

The Border Clinical Management System was developed for use in Managed Isolation and Quarantine Facilities and is a modified version of the indici practice management system.

It has been adapted for the community and renamed the Covid Clinical Care Module (CCCM).

Ministry of Health primary care lead Joe Bourne says all Covid-19 care in the community hubs, general practices and some other healthcare providers are able to access the CCCM.

"By giving access to multiple providers, it means there is far better integration of a person's care," he tells eHealthNews.

"An after-hours clinical provider is able to access the notes that their regular provider has been keeping. This improves patient safety and continuity."

The module integrates with the MSD Community Portal for welfare support and the National Contact Tracing Solution, which automatically creates a record for every Covid case in the CCCM.

Bourne says the module allows providers to record patient notes, initial assessments, add welfare tasks and regular health checks. When a session is complete, the notes are sent to the GP outbox.

President of the Royal NZ College of GPs Samantha Murton says, “CCCM is a coordinated system that holds information about patients who have Covid and how they are managing. It’s a shared care record that’s nationally consistent and can be accessed by clinicians involved in that person’s care.”

Often this will be their GP during the day, but may be Whakarongorau – National Telehealth Service, or an out of hours service at other times.

“It’s great for patients as anyone connecting with them has visibility of their record and if someone needs to escalate their care, wherever they end up people can see what’s gone on before,” says Murton.

The system can also connect to welfare services, such as help with accommodation or childcare, if that is needed.

Murton accesses the CCCM directly through her practice management system via HealthLink and can see any of her patients who have tested positive. If she has received a positive result for a patient who is not on the system she can call or email to have them added.

If a GP has capacity, they can choose to be the lead carer for that patient and if not, their care is passed on to one of the new regional care in the community hubs to be allocated to a lead clinician. These hubs also coordinate care for anyone not enrolled with a GP.

“It’s been set up to ensure people don’t fall through the cracks when they have multiple people looking after them, but no one knows who the lead is,” she explains.

GPs will decide how often patients should be contacted, with high-risk groups being monitored more closely for deterioration.

Monitoring is usually done via phone call or text from the practice to the patient, asking about their symptoms and how they are coping.

Murton says there must be strict governance of the data being collected in the national system.

“As a data set it's quite significant so we need to be confident about who can see that data and understand there’s no risk of privacy breaches,” says Murton.

Chair of GPNZ Jeff Lowe says integration with GP practice management systems is key as that information enriches the data set to ensure resources are targeted to those people with the highest needs.

“This new system is an example of what can be achieved in terms of digital solutions, both for the workforce and the public, and will leave a legacy that we will be able to leverage off in the future,” he says.