eThe NHI Web Service Validation Utility enables you to check a patient’s NHI number within RxOne without having to leave RxOne to access the NHI Online Access for Health (NOAH). This utility interfaces with the National Health Index (master source of patient identity data) via a real-time Web Service.

NHI Webservice Credentials

NHI Web service Credentials have to be added into RxOne to enable the NHI Web Service integration.

The NHI Credentials are unique to each store and each owner.

For a new Pharmacy set up, when the pharmacy owner contacts MOH, the Online Help Desk will email the relevant forms to a new Pharmacy (owner) which include applications to apply for National Health Index Web Service Access (NHI Look Up, Connected Health and the HealthSecure Digital Certificate. Once the NHI application form has been processed, approved and the credentials created, they are emailed directly to HealthSoft from our Wellington Office.

In the case of a change in pharmacy ownership or an existing site without NHI Web Service Credentials, HealthSoft can request the NHI credentials on behalf of the owner by emailing the request to onlinehelpdesk@moh.govt.nz. The Online team will send out the connection forms to be completed by the pharmacy owner. The NHI credentials will then be emailed to HealthSoft from the NHI Web Service.

Overview of How It Works

The Full Auto mode will check every NHI as you dispense and will therefore be slower until most numbers have been validated. Validation only needs to be done once for each NHI. Once validated, the NHI number will be highlighted in green.
With the Semi- auto mode, when you add in a new NHI number, RxOne will automatically do a search through the NHI web service to see if it can find a matching NHI. If it can find a matching NHI number, a screen with two panels will display. The left hand (LH) panel shows the details on the NHI web service and the right hand (RH) panel shows the details in RxOne.

Check the details carefully and decide if the details on the NHI web service (LH panel) is for the same person you are trying to enter in. If it’s not or you are not sure then select ‘This is not the correct person’. If it is the correct person then select either ‘Correct Person & Save Selected details’ or ‘Correct Person & Save ALL Main Details’ to validate the NHI number. See below for the differences between these two buttons. A validated NHI number on the patient screen will display in green.

Manual Validation - From the ‘Patient’ screen, go to Utilities to manually select ‘Check NHI Number is Valid’ to validate an existing NHI or select ‘Get NHI number’ to obtain a list of possible NHI numbers. (Fig1.)

If you have been using the semi-auto mode or you have not been validating all your NHIs, then when running the Exceptions Report before each claim, check the list of non-validated NHIs and validate them: Click on the button ‘Patients with No NHI No. Or Non Validated NHI’ to display the patients with no NHI numbers and patients with non-validated NHIs. Either double click on the name or highlight the patient name and click on ‘Validate NHI or Get NHI’ to activate the search on the NHI web service. (Fig2.). (Note: This can be done any time before the claim is made).

Please refer below for more detailed information.

Help Desk

If you have any issues contact the RxOne Help desk first to establish whether the issue can be resolved by RxOne and if not then contact the MOH Help desk on 0800 505125.

The MOH support for technical issues relating to the NHI for users of the RxOne NHI interface will be available only during business hours of 8.00am-5.00pm weekdays.

The MOH has advised: “As Pharmacies interact more with NHI identifiers and identity information, MOH anticipate that users will occasionally come across significant issues with the data -this may be potential duplicates (i.e. 2 NHI records) or identity confusion (the NHI number supplied does not have corresponding details for the person presenting for a prescription). In these cases, users should log the data issue with the MOH contact centre on 0800 855151.”

Details of the different functions

‘Semi-Auto’ Function

This is the default setting.
When you add in a new NHI number, RxOne will automatically do a search through the NHI web service to see if it can find a matching NHI.
If you choose to use this semi-auto function, we recommend you do go to claims and exceptions report to do a few validations before making up a claim.

‘Full Auto’ Function

When this is switched on, RxOne will automatically do a search through the NHI web service when:
You add a new NHI number and;
Every time you start a script and the NHI number has not been validated previously.
When you go into a patient with no NHI number entered, it will try and get the NHI. And if there is no ‘Date of Birth’ in the patient information, the age/DOB box will pop up.

To switch the full auto function on: after setting up the NHI Web Service as above, go to the RxOne dispensary screen, select ‘Options’ on top left hand corner, ‘RxOne Options’, ‘Show Options’. Then tick ‘Automatically check NHI Numbers (Global)’.

How to Perform an NHI number Search

Depending on your computer, internet speed, the load on the health intranet tunnel, the search will take a few seconds.
Once the search has finished, and it can find the same NHI number, a screen with double panels will come up*. You will need to check this and confirm whether it is the correct person or not. (*Sometimes this may be minimised at the bottom of the screen. Click on it to maximise).
The left hand (LH) panel shows the details on the NHI web service and the right hand (RH) panel shows the details in RxOne.
Check the details and decide if the details on the NHI web service (LH panel) is for the same person you are trying to enter in. If it’s not or you are not sure then select ‘This is not the correct person’. If it is the correct person then select either ‘Correct Person & Save Selected details’ or ‘Correct Person & Save ALL Main Details’ to validate the NHI number. See below the differences between these two buttons.
As you check each section of the LHS panel, you will see the save options. Please read each caption carefully and if you are certain you want to save it to the RxOne database then select the appropriate save options, otherwise leave the option at the default ‘Don’t Save’.
You can save the details from the NHI Web service into RxOne e.g. the date of birth, patient’s preferred names, contacts and addresses etc by selecting the save options. When you select ‘Correct Person & Save Selected Details’, it will validate the NHI and update RxOne with the selected details. (Note: the addresses on the NHI website may be a temporary or permanent address and it may or may not have been validated by MOH).
If ALL the information from NHI on the Main Details tab are correct for the person and you want to validate the NHI and save all the main details into RxOne then select ‘Correct Person & Save ALL Main Details from NHI’ .

If an NHI number has been validated, the NHI number on the patient screen will display in green.
If you have selected ‘This is not the correct person’, the following message will come up “The NHI Number Entered is Incorrect. Please re-enter or leave blank. NHI number found but rejected by user as no match”. You will need to blank out the NHI number or re-enter a valid NHI number.

If the NHI Web Service is off line

A message will come up to say we are unable to connect you to the NHI system. Please try again later.
You can carry on entering the script. The NHI number will not be marked as web validated (i.e. It will not be in green). Later on, you can go into SmartClaim, Exceptions Report to do the validation.

How to Perform Manual Validation in Dispensary

If you are in the ‘Semi-auto’ mode, to validate an existing number previously entered, go to the patient screen. Then manually select Utilities and select ‘Check NHI Number is Valid’.

How to validate the NHI numbers in SmartClaim

You can also validate the NHI numbers in claims via the ‘Exceptions Report’. We recommend you do a few (e.g. 20) patients before each claim.
In the Exceptions Report, next to the ‘Patients with No NHI No. Or Non Validated NHI’ button, it will display a count of how many NHIs have not been validated for scripts submitted in that claim period.
Click on this button to display the patients with no NHI numbers and patients with non-validated NHIs.
To validate or get an NHI number: either double click on the name or highlight the patient name and click on ‘Validate NHI or Get NHI’ to activate the search on the NHI web service.

When you do an NHI validation via the Exceptions report, it will change the NHI number on the scripts on the exceptions report for that claim period and any forward dated scripts. (However if you change the NHI number in dispensary, it will not change the NHI on the scripts dispensed before the change).

Get NHI Number if this is unknown

You can search for an NHI number for a patient if you know the name of the patient and an approximate age range, or year of birth, or month and year of birth, or date of birth.
To find an NHI number for a particular patient, go to the ‘Patient’ screen, click on ‘Utilities’, ‘Get NHI Number’.
If you have not entered a DOB in the patient details, a box will come up for you to enter in either:
- the Date of Birth or
- Month and Year of Birth or
- Year of Birth or
- Age Range (Least preferred option)
Highlight one of the options and enter the details you know. Select OK to start the search
If the gender of a patient has been entered in the extra info tab it will be used by the NHI search. Having the gender will improve the results of the NHI search.
A list of possible matches will display. Check the details carefully.
If you are unsure if any of the people match, then click on ‘Cancel’ to do nothing.
If a person on the list looks to be a likely match, then select to highlight the line and click on ‘Ok’ to bring up the double screen. There are more details on the LHS panel. Check the details carefully. If you’ve decided it’s the right person, then select ‘This is the correct person’ to update the NHI number field in RxOne. If it’s not, or you are not sure, then select ‘This is not the correct person’.

Important Note: The highest Match (Relevance) score does not necessarily mean it is the correct person. E.g. If two people have quite similar names and the same date of birth, and live on the same street the match scores in the result set will be similar. Please check all the details carefully and ask further questions if necessary to confirm identity.

If no match can be found, a message will come up depending on the search criteria you have entered. Possible messages are
- Name and DOB found in the NHI system but rejected by user as no match”.
- "No people found in NHI system that match."
- "No search information provided."
- “NHI number found but rejected by user as no match”
- " This NHI number has not been found in the NHI System”
- “Name and DOB not found in the NHI system”

Other information

Dormant NHIs

Sometimes patients are registered on the NHI more than once. When more than one NHI number is found to be for the same person the NHI numbers are linked. One NHI number becomes LIVE, the others are made DORMANT.

If a patient in your system has a dormant NHI, when you do a validation, the dormant NHIs will display on the 3rd section on the LH panel. The new LIVE NHI number will show at the very top. When you have confirmed it’s the correct person, the new LIVE NHI number will be saved to the patient details.

E.g. The patient named Patient Compliance has an NHI number of HAP8656 in your system. The validation search shows this number is actually dormant. The new number is HBM8145. When you select the option ‘This is the correct person’, the new NHI number HBM8145 will then be saved into the patient details.

Duplicate patients – a very rare situation

If the dormant NHI numbers shown has a name next to it, it means that the NHI number is being used by another patient in your database. Check if these patients on your database are the same person or not. If they are the same person then merge them. Please ensure you check carefully as unmerging scripts is difficult. If unsure or if you don’t think they are the same person do nothing in RxOne and notify the MOH contact centre.

NHI Web Service Rego Missing

If the service has not been set up, when you click on ‘Get NHI number’ or ‘Validate NHI’, a message will come up instructing you where to set it up.

https://support-hs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RI/pages/20611091

RxOneNZ

Validating a Patient's NHI (NHI Validation Screen)