The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) has partnered with artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare experts to deliver a conference, which aims to improve health outcomes for New Zealanders.

“ACC wants to achieve the best rehabilitation outcomes for injured New Zealanders, and we believe there is a lot to be gained from utilising data we have available,” ACC chief executive Scott Pickering said. “Being able to get experts of this level together to start exploring how we use data to ultimately better the lives of New Zealanders is one that we were determined to be involved with.”

Held January 18-19, the Hack Aotearoa: Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare conference explored how predictive data, robotics, and new smart technologies can help to develop better health and wellbeing outcomes for Māori.

Māori feature strongly in negative health statistics in New Zealand, according to Dr Marise Stuart and Dr Mataroria Lyndon. They noted big data could be harnessed to “hack” the health system, empower wellness, and lead to improved health outcomes across Aotearoa, with a priority on improving Māori health.