Software bug blamed for health ID glitch

Patients say they are offended when asked to prove they are New Zealanders. Photo / Herald on Sunday

New Zealand's troubled computer system for identifying patients is unable to show if they are eligible for state funding.

And because of a faulty computer programme, some patients are listed as being New Zealand residents even though they aren't.

A number of patients have emailed the Herald saying they were offended when asked by their DHB to prove they were New Zealanders.

Shelley Drylie said she was "disgusted how we were treated by the 'revenue team' as they refer to themselves in the letter".

"I was angry, especially when there are databases of whether I am a citizen or not - I should never have to prove it to a government institution."

But others praised the drive by DHBs and the Health Ministry to make recipients of state-funded health and disability services prove eligibility.

"About time," wrote Edgar Smallwood. "Government departments have been lax for too long, and multiple millions of taxpayer dollars have been wrongly spent."

Every patient who comes into contact with the public health system is assigned a unique code of letters and numbers under the National Health Index. The NHI system has well-known flaws, including people being listed under two or more codes, and it has been under review for years.

A 2009 ministry letter to the Auckland DHB, obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act, says a new NHI system was intended to be running by late last year, and it was expected to permit the listing of data "to assist in managing eligibility decision-making".

"The [existing] NHI does have a 'NZ resident' flag of 'Y' [yes] or 'N' [no], but this does not in itself indicate eligibility. .. In the design of some front-end software commonly used to access the NHI, there is a software bug that sets the default value of this field to Y. This causes issues with the accuracy of the data."

Ministry officials could not be reached yesterday, but last month the National Health IT Board said it was intended to replace the NHI system by next year as part of a broader, $15 million investment in health-information technology.

Under Government rules, those eligible for state-funded care include citizens and permanent residents, Australians, Britons, holders of a two-year or longer work permit, refugees, and visitors whose accidents are covered by ACC.

The general policy is to treat first and ask later in the case of the acutely sick or injured. Others must provide proof before receiving care.

The Herald asked the Department of Internal Affairs if DHBs could be given access to its databases when they needed to check eligibility, to bypass the need for patients to buy a copy of their birth certificate.

A spokesman said birth certificates, or a slightly cheaper print-out of the details, were the only systems available. The department was legally obliged to charge fees for them.

'It's the way they did it'

Kim Carpenter was shocked while recovering at home from heart surgery to receive a letter warning he would have to pay more than $1000 to Auckland Hospital if he didn't prove he was a New Zealander.

"I was born in Wellington in 1956," the Pukekohe man said yesterday.

He was surprised by the Auckland District Health Board's "uncaring" letter, which arrived as he was dealing with the after-effects of the heart bypass operation done in July.

He had waited in hospital for two weeks before the operation and wasn't asked about eligibility then.

"I rang them and said I was born in New Zealand. Surely you must be able to check though other departments. She quoted 'privacy'.

"I said 'you can send me as many bills as you like, I'm not going to pay them. I'm a New Zealander'."

He has obtained a copy of his birth certificate, but hasn't sent a photocopy to the health board.

"This was the first time I was in hospital since I was 6 years old. I don't see why I should have to go and prove I'm a New Zealander.

"I wouldn't have minded if they had gone through my doctor. It was the way they did it - a bill out of the blue through the mail. It was uncaring."