A reforming accountability: GPs and health reform in New Zealand

Over the last ten years or so, many countries have undertaken public sector reforms. As a result of these changes, accounting has come to play a more important role. However, many of the studies have only discussed the reforms at a conceptual level and have failed to study how the reforms have been implemented and operated in practice. Based on the work of Lipsky (1980) and Gorz (1989), it can be argued that those affected by the reforms have a strong incentive to subvert the reforms. This prediction is explored via a case study of general practitioner (GP) response to the New Zealand health reforms. The creation of Independent Practice Associations (IPAs) allowed the State to impose contractual-accountability and to cap their budget exposure for subsidies. From the GP's perspective, the IPAs absorbed the changes initiated by the State, and managed the contracting, accounting and budgetary administration responsibilities that were created. This allowed individual GPs to continue practising as before and provided some collective protection against the threat of state intrusion into GP autonomy. The creation of IPAs also provided a new way to manage the professional/financial tension, the contradiction between the professional motivation noted by Gorz (1989) and the need to earn a living.