Reducing health disparities through primary care reform: the New Zealand experiment

New Zealand experiences significant health disparities related to both ethnicity and deprivation; the average life expectancy for Maori New Zealanders is 9 years less than for other New Zealanders. The government recently introduced a set of primary care reforms aimed at improving health and reducing disparities by reducing co-payments, moving from fee-for-service to capitation, promoting population health management and developing a not for profit infrastructure with community involvement to deliver primary care. Funding for primary care visits will increase by some 43% over 3 years. This paper reviews policy documents and enrollment and payment data for the first 15 months to assess the likely impact on health disparities. The policy has been successfully introduced; over half the New Zealand population (of four million) enrolled in new Primary Health Organizations within 15 months. Over 400,000 people (half of them in vulnerable groups) gained improved access to primary care subsidies in the first 15 months. The combined effect of new payment rules and the deprived nature of the minority populations was that the average per person payment to PHOs on behalf of Maori and Pacific enrollees was more than 70% greater than the per person amount for other ethnicities for the period. The policy is consistent with the principles of the Alma Alta Declaration. Barriers to successful implementation include the risk of middle class capture of the additional funding; the risk that co-payments are not low enough to improve access for the poor; PHO inexperience; and the small size of many PHOs. Transitional equity and efficiency issues with the use of aggregate population characteristics to target higher subsidies are being ameliorated by the introduction of low cost access based on age. A tension between the twin policy goals of low cost access for all, and very low cost access for the most vulnerable populations is identified as a continuing and unresolved policy issue.     

New Zealand health care: a background

New Zealand, its people and health care services are described, followed by a discussion of (i) the role of government and non-government agencies in the funding, provision and purchasing of health care and (ii) persistent problems in the health care system. The authors argue that recent New Zealand health care reforms represent a significant deviation from past policies. However, to have any prospect of being judged as successful, the reforms must address difficulties in the funding, purchasing and provision of health care that are not new but have been features of New Zealand health care over many years.     

The horizontal equity of health care in New Zealand

OBJECTIVE: Given that 'equal access for equal need' is a clearly articulated goal of the New Zealand public health system, this study is an attempt to determine if access to public health care services in New Zealand is, for people of equal health need, independent of income. METHOD: Information on health status, income and health service utilisation for just over 6,000 New Zealanders was obtained from the national Household Health Survey 1992-93. Using standardised expenditure concentration curves and a concentration index, the distribution of health service use by individuals in different income groups, as a proxy for access, was illustrated and quantified. RESULTS: The results suggest either appropriate or slightly excess use of services by the poor given their estimated health need. Due to analytical problems caused by data deficiencies, these results must be regarded as tentative. CONCLUSION: For the period under study, no evidence was found to indicate significant access barriers to publicly funded health care for people on different incomes. This study has served to demonstrate one approach to measuring inequality and analysing the relationship between inequality and inequity. Given the reforms to the health sector since 1993, ongoing monitoring of equity of access to health care services is essential. IMPLICATIONS: Given the income-related disparities in health that do exist, the public health community should endeavour to develop techniques to monitor the delivery of publicly funded health care to ensure that further inequity is not borne by the poor.     

Reform of the New Zealand health care system

This paper provides an overview and analysis of New Zealand's health care reforms. It describes the basic features of the health care system and identifies some important problems and pressures for reform. The 1991 health care reforms are outlined and considered in terms of their impact on the efficiency and equity of the health care system. Several policy issues are identified that must be addressed if the benefits of the reforms are to be realised.     

New Zealand rural primary health care workforce in 2005: more than just a doctor shortage

OBJECTIVE: To obtain a 2005 snapshot of New Zealand (NZ) rural primary health care workforce, specifically GPs, general practice nurses and community pharmacists. DESIGN: Postal questionnaires, November 2005. SETTING: NZ-wide rural general practices and community pharmacies. PARTICIPANTS: Rural general practice managers, GPs, nurses, community pharmacy managers and pharmacists. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported data: demographics, country of training, years in practice, business ownership, hours worked including on-call, intention to leave rural practice. RESULTS: General practices: response rate 95% (206/217); 70% GP-owned, practice size ranged from one GP/one nurse to 12 GPs/nine nurses. PHARMACIES: Response rate 90% (147/163). Majority had one (33%) or two (32%) pharmacists; <10% had more than three pharmacists. GPs: response rate 64% (358/559), 71% male, 73% aged >40, 61% full-time, 79% provide on-call, 57% overseas-trained, 78% male and 57% female GPs aged >40; more full-time male GPs (76%) than female (37%) . Nurses: response rate 65% (445/685), 97% female, 72% aged >40, 31% full-time, 28% provide on-call, 84% NZ-trained, 45% consulted independently in 'nurse-clinics' within practice setting. Pharmacists: response rate 96% (248/258), 52% male, 66% aged >40, 71% full-time, 33% provide on-call, 92% NZ-trained, 55% sole/partner pharmacy owners. Many intend to leave NZ rural practice within 5 years: GPs (34%), nurses (25%) and pharmacists (47%). CONCLUSION: This is the first NZ-wide rural workforce survey to include a range of rural primary health care providers (GPs, nurses and pharmacists). Ageing rural primary health care workforce and intentions to leave herald worsening workforce shortages.     

Costly health care: A lesson from New Zealand

Former Labour Minister of Health, New Zealand, 1984–1987     

A reflection on the New Zealand health care reforms

What route should be taken in reforming health services? Is there a single best route? These issues are addressed in this final paper in this series on the New Zealand health care reforms. It is suggested that there are probably more ways of getting things right and that these ways are potentially relevant in many countries. The paper also looks at the specific messages that emerge from the New Zealand reforms not only for New Zealand but also for policy-makers in other countries either in the process of reform or contemplating reform.     

New Zealand health care financing ‘reforms’ perceived in ideological context

Health sector financing reforms that have been ongoing over the last decade in most developed countries are rooted in philosophical terms in the ideology of economic rationalism. The ideology suggests that it is possible to artificially create markets for activities in contexts where markets do not develop naturally, and that the creation of these artificial markets leads to resource allocations that are both more efficient and more equitable than historical arrangements. The application of the ideology to New Zealand's health sector has generated some benefits—for example, a more rational approach to influencing the decisions of self-interested health care providers; but it has also generated some costs—for example, on ideological grounds it has brought into question the non-market rationales for maintaining a national health service system.     

The New Zealand health reforms: dividing the labour of care

This paper examines the concept of care as it was practised and conceptualised within one hospital group in southern New Zealand during the health reforms. The paper argues that these reforms brought about a division in the labour of care between the broad group of managers, computer analysts, administration officers, and the clinical staff. Aspects of these two empirically derived categories of care are elaborated, as well as the problems associated with each style. While this division in the labour of care is argued to be an unintended local consequence of the New Zealand health reforms, it also represents a more global phenomenon-the abstraction of social life.