A significant piece of work was concluded in 2013 which focussed on measurement and evaluation across the New Zealand medication safety programme, with an emphasis on the electronic medicines management (eMM) initiatives, a partnership between the New Zealand Health Quality & Safety Commission (the Commission) and the National Health IT Board. The project was independently undertaken for the Commission by David Moore, Joanna Smith and Craig Wright from Sapere Research Group, in conjunction with the National Institute for Health Innovation (NIHI) and the Centre for Health Systems in the Department of Preventative and Social Medicine at the University of Otago.

The project aimed to Commission to:

• Consider a framework for the sustainable, on-going measurement and evaluation of medication-related harm for the Medication Safety Programme.
• Form a judgement on the relative value of the current eMM initiatives, in terms of their likely impact on patient safety and their cost effectiveness, and
• Make decisions on future regional and national roll out of the eMM initiatives, by providing advice on implementation lessons and the change process.