The future of hospital medical device management

Once the list is closed

Once the hospital medical devices list is closed:

• Health NZ hospitals will only buy hospital medical devices from the Hospital Medical Devices List.
• There will be an assessment and decision-making process to make improvements to the Hospital Medical Devices List.
• There will be an exceptions process for hospital medical devices that are not in the Hospital Medical Devices List.

Health NZ will choose the most appropriate devices from the national Hospital Medical Devices List to deliver their local services. 

Once the Hospital Medical Devices List is closed, Pharmac will decide which devices are available for use in the hospital or in their specialist services.

Developing new processes

We are developing the new processes that will be used to make changes to the Hospital Medical Devices List.

These new processes include how:

• changes will be received and tracked
• requests will be triaged, progressed, and implemented
• to get timely and equitable advice
• to rank investment choices and use health technology assessments
• funding decisions will be made
• to publish accessible information.

Decisions will be informed

Our decision-making process will be informed by internationally recognised health technology assessment processes, expert advice, and our Factors for Consideration.

We will need input into our decision making, so we understand the full cost and value of a potential change. This needs to consider both the economic and social impacts for the person, their family and whānau and the wider health system.

This advice may come from a range of people. This includes consumers, Māori, Pacific peoples, disabled people, clinicians, technical specialists, other healthcare workers, and those with lived experience or their family.

The process will need to be flexible, allowing discretion to consider unique aspects and circumstances, while meeting our statutory objective to secure the best health outcomes achievable from available funding.

Achieving health equity

As a Crown entity and Tiriti o Waitangi partner, achieving health equity for Māori is a key priority. We also need to meet the needs of Pacific peoples, disabled people, and other groups who face barriers to accessing or using hospital medical devices.

The Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act made addressing health inequity a priority for the health and disability system. The establishment of Health NZ and Waikaha has increased our ability to effectively collaborate and coordinate across our work.

As we build our relationships and partnerships, we will review the way that we work and ensure we are aligned with the principles and priorities of the system, that ensure equity and that te Tiriti o Waitangi is honoured.

Working with our sector partners

Moving to this new way of managing medical devices will involve a change for Health NZ, suppliers, people who use hospital medical devices, and Pharmac.

We’re committed to maintaining a collaborative approach as we keep developing the new way of working together.

As this work has progressed we have reached key milestones, each time we have consulted on where we’ve got to, and the feedback is helping us as we develop the next stage.

Previous consultations on how Pharmac should manage devices

If you have any feedback or would like to be involved as we develop up our work, please email us at enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz

Who to contact

If you have questions about our hospital medical devices work programme, email enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz