Our purpose has always been to achieve the best health outcomes for New Zealanders. What's changing is how we pursue that purpose.
On this page
Our vision
Our vision shows Pharmac’s commitment to helping improve the health of everyone in New Zealand. We do this by making sure people can get the medicines and health technologies that really make a difference in their lives.
“With You” means we listen and work closely with patients, whānau, health professionals, suppliers, and others across the health system so we can understand what people need and make better informed decisions together.
“For You” means we focus on making sure people can access effective medicines and health technologies in a fair and sustainable way. We use evidence, people’s lived experiences, commercial expertise, and careful management of public funds to deliver the best possible health outcomes.
Pharmac helps create a healthier future by bringing together insights, research, commercial skills, and strong partnerships across the health system. This helps ensure people can access the medicines and health technologies they need now and in the future. By being transparent in how we make decisions, using best practice approaches, and committing to service excellence, we help build a health system where people can trust that the medicines and health technologies are carefully chosen, fairly managed and designed to benefit everyone.
Our mandate
The Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 requires Pharmac to:
Secure the best health outcomes that are reasonably achievable from pharmaceutical treatment and from within the amount of funding provided.
Pharmac's Strategic Framework
From top to bottom, these are the structures that give Pharmac it's strategic framework:
Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022
Protect, promote, and improve the health of all New Zealanders
Achieve equity in health outcomes among New Zealand's population groups, including striving to eliminate health disparities, in particular for Māori.
Build towards Pae Ora (Health Futures) for all New Zealanders
Our purpose under the Act:
To secure the best health outcomes that are reasonably achievable from pharmaceutical treatment and from within the amount of funding provided.
Our vision
Healthy futures. With you. For you. | He rongoā pai. He ahu pae ora.
Our strategic priorities
Delivery excellence delivering organisational and service excellence every day
Wise investments Using best practice approaches to maximise value
Informed choices Gathering voices and connecting perspectives to create insights
Timely access Turning insights and evidence into timely, transparent decisions
Our values
Listen | Whakarongo
Connect | Tūhono
Learn together | Wānanga
Be courageous | Māia
Preserve, protect, and shelter our future | Kaitiakitanga
Our strategic priorities
Our focus for the next four years is built around two fundamental elements:
improving how we manage and invest in medicines and maximise value for medical devices in a timely and transparent way
working together to be a more outward-focused, collaborative, and transparent organisation that values and actively engages with patients, consumers and stakeholders.
To deliver improvements across our work we have four strategic priorities.
Pharmac's strategic priorities
He kōwhiringa i runga i te mōhio ‘Gathering voices and connecting perspectives to create insights’
Good health technology assessment draws on many perspectives. We bring together lived experience, clinical expertise, research evidence, cultural and social insights, and health system priorities. By hearing from patients, whānau, clinicians, researchers, communities, and decision‑makers early and respectfully, we build a balanced understanding of what matters most. Combining these insights helps support decisions that are fair, trusted, deliver value and improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders.
We will know we are successful when:
Partners and stakeholders (consumers, suppliers, health professionals, health system and sector partners) experience Pharmac as a trusted specialist partner. Transparent in how we work, empathetic in how we engage, responsive to needs, and inclusive of diverse voices and perspectives.
Formal partnerships support meaningful co-design and lived-experience input – shaping our assessments, decisions and processes for medicines and health technologies.
Expert advice is robust, informed by evidence and published quickly, drawing on diverse expertise, and is clearly reflected in decisions.
Insights from engagement and evidence are systematically captured and analysed, and are actively fed into strategy, assessment and decision-making.
Enquiries and information requests are handled quickly, consistently and in a respectful way, with clear communication and feedback that closes the loop and builds understanding and trust.
How we will measure our success
We will report on:
The timeliness of producing records of our advisory meetings
The transparency of our assessments and decisions.
Public trust in Pharmac.
Feedback we receive from our stakeholders.
Te āhei ā-wā‘ Turning insights and evidence into timely, transparent decisions’
Timeliness matters because medicines and health technologies can have a major impact on people’s health, and delays can affect lives. Good decisions about medicines and health technologies rely on bringing together many types of information in a clear and purposeful way. Our job is to take complex information - such as clinical data and insights, economic analysis, people’s expert advice and lived experiences, equity considerations, and the impacts on the wider health system - and turn it into decisions that are timely, transparent, and trusted. In making decisions we use clear and proportionate processes to move from assessment to decision as efficiently as possible.
Transparency is essential for building trust. We explain how we reached our decisions, what evidence we used, how we balanced benefits and risks, and how factors like equity, value, and system impacts shape outcomes. When timeframes change, we communicate any delays that will impact the health and livelihoods of patients. By openly sharing how decisions were made and the trade-offs involved, we help people understand not only what we decided, but why.
We will know we are successful when we have:
A modern advice and assessment approach that delivers quicker and more predictable decisions, with clearer pathways so people know what to expect and when.
Greater openness and more opportunities to be heard, helping build trust and confidence while still protecting information that must remain confidential for commercial, privacy or analytical reasons.
Better coordination and consistency across medicines and medical devices, making processes easier to understand, navigate and engage with.
An exceptional circumstances framework for medicines that is clear, responsive and works for those that need it.
Fairer access for people with high health needs supported by decisions that take equity impacts into account alongside clinical and system considerations.
How we will measure our success
We will report on:
The timeliness of assessing and ranking new funding applications.
The timeliness of funding new medicines or widening access to treatments already funded.
The timeliness of our decisions for exceptional circumstances funding applications.
Ngā whakangāo matatau ‘Using best practice approaches to maximise value’
Getting the best value from public investment in medicines and health technologies means combining strong financial discipline with flexible, innovative funding approaches. We use best practice approaches for assessment, negotiation, forecasting, and portfolio management to support consistent, transparent, and value-driven decisions across medicines and health technologies.
Drawing on a range of proven tools - such as risk-sharing agreements, value-based contracts, and long-term planning - we respond to new technologies, manage uncertainty, and secure better value while maintaining access to effective treatments. We apply these approaches in ways that reflect New Zealand’s needs, considering equity, health system priorities, and culturally informed perspectives.
Through clear analysis, strong governance, and skilled commercial practice, we make responsible trade-offs, avoid unnecessary costs, and reinvest savings to improve access and deliver better health outcomes for patients, whānau, and the wider health system.
We will know we are successful when:
We achieve and support improved health outcomes and benefits reflecting clinical impact, quality of life and equity considerations.
We increase the number of new medicines available and widen access to already funded medicines each year.
More New Zealanders are able to access the medicines and medical devices they need in ways that are fair, timely and consistent.
Our portfolio of medicines and medical devices remains clinically appropriate, commercially sustainable and fit for purpose over time, while maintaining an emphasis on improving health equity.
Our commercial approaches continue to evolve in response to changes in the (New Zealand and global) medicines and health technology markets supporting innovation while managing risk and affordability.
We effectively manage and mitigate supply chain risks to ensure people can access the medicines and medical devices that they need.
Medicines and health technologies are easier for people to access across different care settings, supported by reimbursement and funding arrangements that reduce barriers and improve people’s experience.
How we will measure our success
We will report on:
Improved health outcomes and benefits we achieve and support.
The increase in the number of funded medicines - and New Zealanders who benefit.
Ensuring people can access the medicines and medical devices they need.
Medicines expenditure and savings.
Medical devices benefits and value.
Hiranga i roto i ngā putanga ‘Delivering organisational and service excellence every day’
At Pharmac, organisational and service excellence means delivering our work with integrity, consistency, and accountability. We use strong systems, clear processes, and evidence-based practice to support timely, transparent, and reliable decisions about medicines and health technologies.
We continuously improve by listening to feedback, strengthening capability, and working closely with partners, so our work remains responsive and fit for purpose. By doing this well, we build trust, support better health outcomes, and act as a responsible steward of public resources for all New Zealanders.
We will know we are successful when:
Data and feedback show that health outcomes and benefits are improving, reflecting better access, quality and equity for New Zealanders.
Our ways of working are simpler, more modern and more consistent, making it easier for people to engage with us and for staff to do their work well.
Our people have the capability, cultural competence, and leadership needed to deliver high-quality services, and staff feel supported, included and able to contribute their best.
Productivity improves across our core practices and disciplines, helping us deliver decisions, advice and services more effectively within limited resources.
Operating costs are well managed and demonstrate value for money, supporting our role as a responsible steward of public funds.
Digital tools, data, insights and ethical use of AI are used effectively, improving efficiency, supporting better decisions and enabling continuous improvement.
Pharmac is strengthened as a trusted, enduring public institution capable of continuing to deliver value and fairness in a changing health system.
How we will measure our success
We will report on:
Our responsiveness to Māori and high needs population groups.
