Decision to list medical devices in the interventional radiology category supplied by Obex Medical Ltd

Hospital devices Decision

We are pleased to announce the approval of a listing agreement for medical devices with Obex Medical Ltd.

What we are doing

We are pleased to announce the approval of a listing agreement for medical devices with Obex Medical Limited (‘Obex’).

In summary this will result in:

  • 1060 medical devices in the interventional radiology products category, being listed on the Pharmaceutical Schedule from 1 June 2019 under national agreements that all DHBs may purchase under (“Agreements”);
  • this supplier providing training and education services that will be tailored to suit the needs of individual DHBs in formats and at times as required by DHBs; and
  • DHBs continuing to be able to purchase other suppliers’ brands of medical devices in the interventional radiology consumable products category.

Any changes to the original proposal?

This decision was subject to consultation with a letter dated 10 April 2019.

Twenty-four duplicate codes and one non WAND registered device were removed during consultation. No other changes have been made to the agreement as a result of consultation.

Who we think will be most interested

  • DHB staff
    • Interventional radiology clinical staff
    • Procurement and supply chain personnel
  • Suppliers and Wholesalers

Detail about this decision

In September 2017 PHARMAC issued a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for interventional radiology products.

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

After completing the RFP evaluation processes and consulting on the provisional Agreement reached with Obex PHARMAC has decided to list the medical devices in Part III of Section H of the Pharmaceutical Schedule from 1 June 2019. This is the latest agreement resulting from the RFP and we anticipate consulting on the final agreements in the coming months.

The products to be listed include catheters, guidewires, introducer sheaths, retrievers and vascular flow devices.

The full list of products will be available on PHARMAC's website from 1 June 2019, in both a PDF document and an Excel spreadsheet.

DHBs that purchase the medical devices from Obex must do so under the terms and conditions and at the prices included in the Agreement, from 1 June 2019. DHBs can continue to choose which interventional radiology consumable products they purchase.

Our response to what you told us

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

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

Theme

PHARMAC Staff Comment

Feedback that no technical or resource impacts are expected as a result of the proposal.

Noted.

Comment on price increase for some products for a DHB.

Standardised pricing can lead to ups and downs for different DHBs. PHARMAC does challenge and seek to minimise proposed increases from suppliers.

Question from a radiology department as to financial impact based on current use; concern that products currently used may have been omitted from Schedule; question regarding the change in product code format.

Financial impact information provided; explanation given about how products can still be added to Schedule; product code change explained – new format provides more detail regarding the product specifications. 

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.