Rural health care in New Zealand: the case of Coast to Coast Health Centre, Wellsford, an early Integrated Family Health Centre.

Introduction: Primary health care is critical, particularly in rural areas distant from secondary care services.

Aim: To describe the development of Coast to Coast Health Centre (CTCHC) at Wellsford, north of Auckland, New Zealand and reflect on its achievements and ongoing challenges.

Methods: Interviews were conducted with staff and management of CTCHC and with other health service providers.

The informatics nurse specialist as privacy officer.

HIPAA mandates the development of privacy and security standards, including the designation of a privacy officer responsible for the development and implementation of the policies and procedures. However, the rule does not give guidance as to the specific qualifications, job description, or details concerning policy and procedure development and implementation. The qualities and skills of informatics nurse specialists (INS), plus their commitment to patient advocacy and a professional code of ethics to ensure the privacy of confidential personal information, make the INS ideally suited to manage the processes necessary to achieve HIPAA compliance.