New Zealand's State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has formally asked the Auditor-General's office to conduct an inquiry into the procurement of the HealthTap virtual health platform, which has cost the board $NZ14.6 million over two years but never went out to a formal tender.
HealthTap is the technology underpinning Waikato's SmartHealth project, which currently has 9000 patients and 2500 clinicians registered and is being used for about 200 consultations a month. Originally called Virtual DHB, the project allows patients to directly text or video conference with specialists using a tablet or mobile phone.
According to an Audit NZ review of the HealthTap procurement process, released today by the DHB as the fallout over the resignations of CEO Nigel Murray and board chairman Bob Simcock over an expenses scandal continues, the DHB had looked at available New Zealand solutions when considering a trial in 2015 but was less than satisfied, having had a “recent experience of a failed system”.
