Medicines Data Repository

The Medicines Data Repository (MDR) is a trusted source of prescribed and dispensed medicines information for New Zealanders. It is based on real-time information received directly from the New Zealand ePrescription Service (NZePS).

The purpose of the MDR is to provide FHIR based API access to a consolidated single source of NZePS data, accessible by NHI and HPI, that can be used by consumers and health providers.

The MDR API provides read-only access to a person’s prescription and dispensing history. This information can be accessed through an approved system application via a FHIR API.

Medicines reconciliation: The process of confirming what medication has currently, or recently, been prescribed or dispensed to a consumer and what the consumer has taken. This process is normally undertaken prior to any medical intervention by a health professional.

Medicines adherence: The process of confirming what medication a consumer is currently taking based on what was prescribed and dispensed. This process is normally undertaken when a consumer is not responding as expected to the medication prescribed.

Real-time access to controlled drug prescribing: The process of confirming a consumer's medication history before prescribing controlled drugs. The primary purpose is to ensure that the consumer is not over-prescribed controlled drugs.

Access to the MDR is for organisations that meet the eligibility criteria related to medicines prescribing, dispensing, reconciliation and administering.

The information held in MDR is currently approved for the following uses.

• Request a person's medication history according to their NHI.
• Request medication activity over a date range.
• Lookup medications prescribed by a specific provider for a patient.
• Request records of specific prescribed and dispensed medications.

Onboarding will transition to the Digital Services Hub, but in the interim, use the legacy method below. To use the MDR API, you need to have your organisation and the system or application you intend to integrate the data with approved by Health NZ.

To get started, send an expression of interest to onlinehelpdesk@health.govt.nz.

The NZePS team will assess your application and contact you for further information.

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) REST API with OAuth based authentication.

The MDR API conforms to the FHIR R4 standard using New Zealand specific profiles of the medication request and medication dispense FHIR resources.

Access to the production system will be enabled once integration into a sandpit environment is completed, tested and approved.

New Zealand MDR Implementation Guide

New Zealand ePrescription Service