HiNZ 2025: Malik Rizwan - Executive Lead (Virtual Care Strategy), Valentia Technologies

Why It Matters

Prioritising user experience and interoperable design reshapes care delivery, reducing system silos and driving better health outcomes across the industry.

Key Takeaways

• User experience drives technology decisions
• OctantCare integrates, not replaces, existing systems
• Interoperability reduces healthcare fragmentation
• Patient‑centric design improves clinician workflow
• Digital front doors enhance patient access

Pulse Analysis

The push toward patient‑centric design is redefining digital health strategy. Leaders like Malik Rizwan argue that technology should be a response to how patients and clinicians actually interact with care, not the driver of those interactions. By mapping the journey first—identifying pain points, expectations, and preferred touchpoints—organizations can ensure that digital tools feel intuitive, fostering higher adoption rates and more meaningful engagement.

OctantCare exemplifies this philosophy with its "digital front door" model. Rather than overhauling legacy electronic health records, the platform sits atop existing infrastructure, offering a unified portal for appointment scheduling, telehealth, and health data access. This integration‑first approach leverages standard APIs and industry‑wide interoperability standards, allowing seamless data flow while preserving institutional investments. The result is a smoother patient experience, reduced administrative burden, and a clearer path for clinicians to deliver coordinated care.

For the broader health ecosystem, such interoperable front‑door solutions signal a shift from fragmented, vendor‑locked silos to a more connected landscape. Payers, providers, and tech firms stand to benefit from lower integration costs, faster rollout times, and improved outcome metrics. As regulators increasingly mandate data exchange standards, platforms that prioritize connection over replacement will likely become the backbone of next‑generation digital health ecosystems, accelerating innovation while safeguarding continuity of care.

Original Description

“We should build first the user experience and how the user interacts with the services... and then figure out how technology can support us on the backend.” 🏥💡

During Digital Health Week in Christchurch, hosted by Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ), Malik Rizwan, Executive Lead for Virtual Care Strategy at Valencia, speaks with Rebecca McBeth about improving digital health systems by focusing on patient-centric design. The conversation covers Malik’s unique approach in developing OctantCare—a digital front door that integrates seamlessly with existing healthcare systems rather than replacing them.

What does it really mean to create a truly interoperable digital front door for patients? How can technology support—not dictate—the patient and clinician experience? And why is connecting, rather than replacing, current systems the key to reducing fragmentation in healthcare?

Catch this conversation and many others recorded during Digital Health Week in Christchurch, hosted by Health Informatics New Zealand (HiNZ) in a special playlist available here on YouTube under our channel. as well as the Talking HealthTech Podcast on your favourite platform.

#digitalhealth #healthtech #healthcare #patientexperience