New Zealand readers were most interested in the goings-on with the national electronic health record this year, and we suspect next year as well, when the new government will make a decision on whether to proceed with it or not. With director-general of health Chai Chuah standing down and a new minister in the hot seat, things look likely to get a shake-up in 2018.

In 2017, the national EHR, the adventures of Orion Health and the South Island HCS/HealthOne roll-out were all must reads, as were stories on patient portals and the purchase of HealthLink by the Clanwilliam Group. It was a story on the Ernst & Young report into Health Care Homes that took out top spot this year, although the melodrama that engulfed Waikato DHB was a late contender.