Source: Radio New Zealand
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand has conditionally approved an application by the General Practice Owners Association to set up it’s own breakaway PHO. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
General practice owners concerned about what they say is too much red tape, have been given the go-ahead to set up their own primary health organisation (PHO).
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand has conditionally approved an application by the General Practice Owners Association (GenPro), to set up a nationwide breakaway PHO, called ‘”thePHO” – to be up-and-running by 1 July 2026.
PHOs are not-for-profit organisations, funded by Health NZ and are responsible for the delivery of primary care services, including general practices.
There are currently about 30 PHOs, made up of practices working together to care for the patients enrolled with them.
The approval of GenPro’s application follows the approvals for two big corporate general practice providers to set up their own PHO’s – Green Cross in November, and Tend in May.
GenPro said its members feared this would give the corporates a competitive advantage, and that they’d become increasingly concerned by what they saw as burgeoning PHO bureaucracy in recent years.
It promised to cut red tape and ensure more money for frontline care.
But General Practice New Zealand, which represents PHOs, says GPs already received 100 percent of per-person funding for their enrolled patients.
GenPro chair Dr Angus Chambers said he was pleased by the conditional approval, but that there were still aspects to negotiate with Health NZ – which had put in place requirements to be met by the end of March.
“It’s a very big job, I do think it’s possible, we’ve got a lot of expertise. But … there’s a challenge in it.”
The goal of thePHO was to direct more funding into the frontline rather than bureaucracy, and ensure money went to helpful and valued services, he said.
This would reduce upward pressure on patient costs and it didn’t necessarily mean job cuts, Chambers said.
“In the end, if practices are delivering services, there’ll be a need for practices to employ people to deliver those services.”
He said there had been uncertainty in recent years regarding the existence and future of PHOs, and GenPro could not wait for signalled policy direction from HNZ (a PHO strategy is expected in coming months).
Since the new PHO was announced, GenPro had received expressions of interest to join from 116 general practices representing more than 800,000 patients, he said.
“If all these practices proceed, the new PHO would become the largest in the country, covering around 16 percent of New Zealand’s total enrolled population.”
The new PHO would be organisationally independent of GenPro, Chambers said.
General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) said it understood why GenPro was pushing for its own PHO, but maintained the establishment of new organisations – that saw practices switching PHOs – risked disrupting primary healthcare.
GPNZ chief executive Maura Thompson said PHOs were more than just “the bank” passing through Health NZ funds, and that many PHO-provided services such as diabetes, youth health, and marae clinics – in addition to general practice support services – flew under the radar.
“That might be business services, that might be data, it might be workforce, and these are essential to the functioning to the general practice and delivery of comprehensive services.
“I think that’s often not visible and maybe not fully appreciated by these new PHOs.”
The approval of three new PHOs this year was unusual, ahead of an expected Health NZ PHO strategy to be delivered by the end of March, she said.
“It’s a bit counter-intuitive, it’s ironic that these new nationally operating PHOs are established while we’re waiting on a direction on what a PHO looks like, which is a matter of three months away.
“These moves are far more likely to distract and destabilise than to improve care for patients.”
In a statement, Health NZ said the establishment of the PHO and impact on patient costs was yet to be understood, but it was committed to ensuring all communities had access to quality primary care.
ThePHO must meet a raft of requirements by the end of March before starting operations in July, including not-for-profit status, a strong governance framework, clinical leadership, and the ability to work with local health teams and provide urgent care, Health NZ said.
“It needs to submit flexible funding plans for each district, participate in collaborative planning, and ensure continuity of services, especially for mental health.”
Part of the measures, include the requirement that no patient facing services or staff were to be cut. ThePHO must also continue to fund health services provided by existing PHOs for at least 12 months.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
