Address and Geocoding

With the advent of NES, the address and geocoding that is used for funding is no longer the address and geocoding that you have recorded in your PMS. It is now the address and geocoding that is recorded in the MoH NHI data set.

This has caused some issues for practices and PHOs when the address and geocoding in the PMS and the NHI are different. When you have a more up to date address than what is on the NHI you should update the NHI. Where the address is more up to date on the NHI then you need to have a practice policy around what you do e.g. note on the record to check with the patient.

However, it is still important that you correctly record the patient's address and geocoding in your PMS. Sometimes the geocoding process in the PMS can highlight issues with the geocoding process and it is a good idea to record an address on the NHI that can be automatically geocoded (i.e. does not require manual intervention) as the automated process is what is used to determine funding.

However, there will still be some patients that genuinely come back with a Quintile 0 even when the correct address has been entered - these patients are listed in your Karo Reg Updates report and will have a reason next to them. NB those patients without a reason need to be updated on NHI. The reasons can be as follows:

Code Description Comment
OSEA Overseas Address An address for a country other than New Zealand - these patients should be unenrolled if they will be gone for 6 months or longer
UKWN Unknown The person’s address is unknown - follow up with the patient
MIGR Migrated Migrated from the legacy NHI with no known external source - follow up with the patient
NFAB No Fixed Abode The person has no address
NOSVC Address Service Unavailable The e-SAM address service was unavailable for address validation due to Technical issues - try and
OTHER Other Other reason

There is also the potential for the following to be listed in the reason "'Quintile not available for this address" - if this occurs the address has been geocoded and the meshblock associated with the address has been found. However, there is no quintile attached to that meshblock this is usually because the meshblock is in a new housing area or because the meshblock has too few households in it for a quintile to be assigned. In these cases, there is nothing more that you can do.

If there is no reason for the failure to geocode then check the following:

  • the spelling of the street may be incorrect
  • the street may be wrongly ascribed to a suburb
  • addresses for flats must be in the format of 'Flat B/ 123 Something Street'
  • abbreviations may be incorrect or not there e.g. 'Tce' instead of 'Terrace'. We recommend not using abbreviations at all
  • separate house/flat name from street eg '123 Newtown Park Flats', then on the next line '303 Mansfield Street', then on the next line the suburb 'Newtown'not'123 Newtown Park Flats, 303 Mansfield Street'

If you are still having trouble with specific addresses or other issues then contact the MoH contact centre at [email protected] or call them at 0800 505 125.