Getting involved in PHARMAC's decision-making

What do we consult on?

Questions we consult on include:

• whether to fund a new medicine
• whether to widen or restrict access to an already funded medicine
• changes to the way we carry out our work
• major projects, such as our hospital medical devices national contracting work.

How do we consult on decisions about medicines?

It’s important that we understand the views of people who will be affected when we are making a decision.

When we are looking at funding a medicine, we write to interested people and groups asking for their comments. We also publish these consultation documents on our website.

Sometimes we put out a discussion document first to get some general views from people. We use those to help decide the detail of a formal proposal – and we send that out for comment too.

Most medicine funding proposals are open for comments for at least two weeks.

Who do we consult with?

We seek the views of all people who may have an interest in what we are proposing or who may be affected. We welcome all the views we receive, whether from:

• health professionals
• the pharmaceutical industry
• consumer and patient groups
• Government agencies
• the general public.

How you can get involved

We keep a contact list of people interested in our decisions. We'll send you proposals that relate to the therapy areas you select. Our consultation documents give instructions on how to give feedback. 

Sign up to get emails about consultations you're interested in(external link)

What happens to your feedback?

Feedback and submissions are carefully considered before any decisions are made.

Any submission you make becomes public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we have to make information available unless we have a good reason for withholding it.  That is explained in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission. Reasons might include that it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. Any decision PHARMAC makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may tell us to release it.

More information

Find the list of current consultations

Read about our work to engage consumers in our decisions

Who to contact

If you have any questions about getting involved in PHARMAC's decision making, email enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz