NHI number statistics

i.hunter · 15 October 2019 23:19

Hi
I have a student who has asked where could they find information about NHI statistics - such as numbers allocated to non-residents or NZers or visitors, etc. Can anyone advise please? Also can the NHI run out of numbers?
Cheers Inga

rticehurst · 15 October 2019 23:26

NHI number format change
By 2025 the NHI system will have exhausted all of the NHI numbers that are available using the current AAANNNC format, which is 3 letters, followed by 3 digits and then a numeric check digit.
After sector consultation, we have decided to supplement the existing system by introducing a new 7-character NHI number format that will allow NHI numbers to be issued for several more decades.
The chosen new NHI number format is AAANNAX, which is 3 letters, followed by 2 digits, 1 letter and an alphabetic check character.
Once introduced, the new format will be used for issuing all new NHI numbers. All existing NHI numbers will be retained in their original format and will continue to be used as before. The two formats will co-exist indefinitely, and all administrative and clinical systems will need to support them both.
Continuing with 7-character NHI numbers is intended to minimise the impact on primary care and hospital information systems that are designed for identifiers of this length on screens, labels, barcodes etc.
All systems should be changed to accommodate the new format by July 2022 to allow a comfortable lead time before the first numbers are issued in the new format.

From Consumer Health Identity Standard HISO 10046:2019 Published September 2019

Rob

jon_herries · 15 October 2019 23:32

Hi Inga - send me this in an email with the student’s contact details. Will forward it on to the team.

Jon

parag · 15 October 2019 23:34

Potentially, an OIA request? TBOKM, as ‘Eligibility’ information is maintained at DHB level, it may require aggregation if not recently run.

Yes, there is a risk the current NHI format will ‘run out of numbers’. See MoH advisory on NHI Number Format Change

Lucyw · 15 October 2019 23:44

Hi

The current NHI format will run out in a couple of years

See the new standard attached…

By 2025 the NHI system will have exhausted all of the NHI numbers that are available using the current AAANNNC format, which is 3 letters, followed by 3 digits and then a numeric check digit.

After sector consultation, we have decided to supplement the existing system by introducing a new 7-character NHI number format that will allow NHI numbers to be issued for several more decades.

The chosen new NHI number format is
AAANNAX, which is 3 letters, followed by 2 digits, 1 letter and an alphabetic check character.

Once introduced, the new format will be used for issuing all new NHI numbers. All existing NHI numbers will be retained in their original format and will continue to be used as before. The two formats will co-exist
indefinitely, and all administrative and clinical systems will need to support them both.

Continuing with 7-character NHI numbers is intended to minimise the impact on primary care and hospital information systems that are designed for identifiers of this length on screens, labels, barcodes etc.

All systems should be changed to accommodate the new format by July 2022 to allow a comfortable lead time before the first numbers are issued in the new format.

hiso_10046-2019_consumer_health_identity_standard-100919.docx (499 KB)

i.hunter · 15 October 2019 23:56

Thank you everyone for your prompt and detailed replies. Much appreciated.

simon.ross · 16 October 2019 01:41

Hi Inga
I’m not sure that sort of info is published
but the Ministry of Health’s identity team will likely have it. I’ve copied
Colette Lyons who will know.
The NHI will run out of numbers in
the current format in the next few years. The data custodians have a plan
to change the format (but not the length) of the numbers that will allow
allocation to continue. This was consulted on with a paper published on
the Ministry’s website last year which should still be publicly accessible.
Thx
Simon Ross

Lead Data Steward | Data & Digital | Ministry of Health

DDI: 04 816 2893 | Fax: 04 816 2898 | Simon_Ross@moh.govt.nz

http://www.health.govt.nz/nz-health-statistics

From:
“Inga Hunter via
Digital Health Networks” discourse-notifications@digitalhealth.net

To:
simon.ross@health.govt.nz,

Date:
16/10/2019 12:20 p.m.

Subject:
[dhn] [New
Zealand informatics Forum] NHI number statistics

i.hunter · 16 October 2019 02:00

Thanks @Simon and @Jon

It’s not a big issue request, just for an assignment but it’s interesting what students think about. I’ll let both of you know if the student wants the data. I’ve sent on the NHI format document
that others have kindly given me the link. It’s been really useful to ask a question in this forum and get such an amzing set of responses.

simon.ross · 17 October 2019 22:49

Hi Inga
John Lister from our Health Identity
team put this together for you but has not been able to send it to you.
Hopefuly it reaches you this way.
Thx
Simon Ross

Lead Data Steward | Data & Digital | Ministry of Health

DDI: 04 816 2893 | Fax: 04 816 2898 | Simon_Ross@moh.govt.nz

http://www.health.govt.nz/nz-health-statistics

Hi Inga

The NHI database contains records of
anyone who has interacted with the NZ Health system since late last century.
Records are not deleted.

Where individuals have been registered
in the database more than once, then their records have been linked, and
just one NHI record is used as their “Live” NHI record. Other
terms from time to time used for this are “primary” and “major”.
Those records not “Live” are termed “Dormant”
(or “secondary” or “minor”). Note that these
terms relate to the status of the records, not the individual.

In producing these statistics, records
were included only where the record was Live and where no date of death
is recorded. As many older records in the database are of people
who died before we started receiving dates of death regularly, records
could be included in these statistics for people who are not still living,
so figures for the earlier decades are probably too high.

Here are notes for the various statistics.

NZ Citizenship

A large matching project applied values for this to some previous decades,
but we are working through a backlog of more recent records and current
values.

Note the different statuses:

N
Not a New Zealand citizen
Y
A New Zealand citizen
U
Recorded as status “Unknown”
Null
Not recorded at all

NZ Residency status

We regard these values as being unreliable, as proof of residency was not
always historically required, and some software defaulted the status to
“NZ Resident”, so the figures are likely to be high on the “Resident”
side.

Values:

Y
```
  Resident
```
Not resident or unknown
Either the person is flagged as a non-Resident
or the residency status was not known or recorded.

Visitor status

This is not explicitly captured. As an approximation, we are using
the “domcile code”, which is a geocoding down to NZ Statistics
Area Unit.

A value of 9999 was used to indicate an overseas address, but was also
used for addresses which could not be geocoded as New Zealand addresses.
There were more of these in the past than now, as address quality
was often poor (sometimes just a street address, no city) and the geocoding
software available was a bit finicky. Hence some records have “Overseas”
address status, but are actually New Zealand addresses.

Nevertheless, you can get a rough idea of visitors who have interacted
with the New Zealand health system.

Cheers

John Lister

Senior Data Quality Analyst

Identity and Eligibility

National Digital Services

Data and Digital

Ministry of Health

DDI: (04) 816-2878

mailto:John.Lister@health.govt.nz

From:
“Inga Hunter via
Digital Health Networks” discourse-notifications@digitalhealth.net

To:
simon.ross@health.govt.nz,

Date:
16/10/2019 12:20 p.m.