Tag: healthcare reform
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Why healthcare policy needs a whole-system view
As New Zealand moves towards another general election, the promise of better healthcare policy is once more high on the list of issues most likely to influence voters. Yet again, our political parties are offering a smorgasbord of prescriptions for improving performance, reducing waiting times, strengthening services and improving access to medicines. Different parties will…
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Medicines are not a cost, they are an investment
New Zealand’s long-standing approach to medicines funding has been shaped by a simple imperative: contain cost. That focus has delivered a system that is regarded as less than efficient, but increasingly, it is also being questioned as insufficient. At the heart of the issue is a framing problem. Medicines are too often treated purely as…
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Is New Zealand entering a more collaborative era in medicines policy?
Some New Zealand patients can wait years longer for access to publicly funded new medicines than patients in comparable OECD countries. For people living with serious conditions such as cancer, rare diseases and autoimmune disorders, those delays can mean treatments available overseas are simply not yet options here. That gap has long been accepted as…