eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Chief executive of NZ Health IT Scott Arrol is leaving the industry body to become chief executive of Dementia NZ.

Arrol says that after six years of hard work he is leaving the organisation in a financially strong position with increased membership, “so it’s a good time for someone to come in with fresh eyes and thinking,”.

When Arrol first joined NZHIT in 2014 it had a declining membership of around 65 and was commonly known as the ‘cluster’.

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Arrol says he set about turning this around, starting with reframing it as the acronym NZHIT, with the tagline that it was “hitting the mark”.

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He also worked to make the organisation more widely relevant by encouraging health providers to join.
Membership now sits at 160 and is much broader, with around 75 percent representing the health IT industry and the rest made up of non-IT members such as healthcare providers and private insurance companies.

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“They wanted to be able to connect directly with the IT developers and IT providers wanted to connect with the healthcare providers and policy makers and within the membership, they could do that,” Arrol tells eHealthNews.nz.

Bringing value to members is his key concern as he views them as customers of NZHIT. Each member gets a new member strategy session where they convey what they do and what is important to them. That knowledge means he can connect members up to help solve common problems.

“That’s the glue that holds everything together as unless you are solving problems, at some point you become irrelevant,” he says.

Arrol has always worked hard on relationships, which is evident in the reaction to news of his departure on LinkedIn, with hundreds of reactions and comments within a few days.

He says he has been humbled by people reaching out to thank him for his hard work and wish him well for the future.

“I have been absolutely passionate about and committed to this role because it’s so important to New Zealanders’ health and the feedback I’ve been getting has blown me away,” he says.

He has also been a prolific communicator, including his regular column, NZHIT View, in eHealthNews.nz and a popular podcast series, Digital Health Insights with Scott Arrol.

NZHIT chair Kate Reid says Arrol, “has played an integral role in enabling a healthier NZ and creating a vibrant and connected health IT sector.

“Over the last six years, he has created enormous value for our members and for the overall health IT sector and without a doubt, he will be a very hard act to follow.”

Reid says that finding a suitable replacement is the board’s key priority over the next couple of weeks.

Health Informatics New Zealand chief executive Kim Mundell says Arrol is highly respected as a visionary advocate for the health IT sector.

“His collaborative working style and extensive network, has been a key success factor underpinning many co-created events between HiNZ & NZHIT. We are delighted to advise that Scott has accepted an invitation to join the HiNZ board as an appointed member, on a one year term.” she says.

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Oringally posted

https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/539400/Scott-Arrol-to-leave-NZHIT.htm

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