Decision to list medical devices supplied by Cass Medical and Electron Medical

What we’re doing

We are pleased to announce the approval of listing agreements with Cass Medical Limited (“Cass Medical”) and Electron Medical NZ Limited (“Electron Medical”) for the supply of medical devices to Te Whatu Ora hospitals in the following category:

•  Medical imaging, software and associated products

In summary this will result in:

• Listing of medical imaging, software and associated products supplied by Cass Medical and Electron Medical in Part III of Section H of the Pharmaceutical Schedule from 1 November 2022;
• National agreements with Cass Medical and Electron Medical for medical imaging, software and associated products that all Te Whatu Ora Hospitals may purchase under (“Agreements”); and
• Te Whatu Ora Hospitals being able to continue to purchase other suppliers’ brands of medical imaging, software and associated products as this agreement is not for sole supply.

Any changes to the original proposal?

This decision was subject to a consultation letter dated 31 August 2022.

No changes have been made to the original proposal.

Who we think will be most interested

• Te Whatu Ora Hospital staff, including but not limited to:
  • Clinicians
  • Radiology technicians and clinicians
  • Nurses
  • Clinical engineers and maintenance service staff
  • Procurement and supply chain personnel
• Suppliers and wholesalers

Details about this decision

In November 2020 Pharmac in  NZHP released an RFP:

• RFP – Medical imaging equipment, associated consumables, accessories, software and services, and maintenance(external link)(external link)

The RFP was for non-exclusive national agreements for listing on the Pharmaceutical Schedule.

Pharmac has been working with suppliers who responded to the processes to seek provisional agreements. These are the latest agreements to arise out of the medical imaging, software and associated products RFP.  We are continuing to negotiate contracts with other suppliers across this category and will continue to consult on these in the future.

Te Whatu Ora Hospitals can continue to choose which medical imaging, software and associated products they procure, including those from other suppliers. Te Whatu Ora Hospitals that procure these medical devices from Cass Medical and Electron Medical must do so under the terms and conditions, including pricing, in the agreement from 1 November 2022.

The list of products will be available on Pharmac’s website from 1 November 2022, in both PDF and Excel spreadsheet formats.

Our response to what you told us

We appreciate the time people took to respond to this consultation.

All consultation responses received were considered in their entirety in making the decision to list medical devices supplied by Cass Medical and Electron Medical.

A summary of the main themes raised in feedback and our responses to the feedback are set out below:

If you have any questions about this decision, you can email us at enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz; or call our toll free number (9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday) on 0800 66 00 50.