Strengthening the Pharmaceutical Schedule

The Schedule is key to medicines funding in New Zealand. It lists the medicines publicly funded for New Zealanders, and the medical devices used in public hospitals.

It’s used by health professionals to check what is funded, understand any conditions that apply, and ensure people receive the funded treatments they are eligible for.

Pharmac’s Director of Strategy, Policy and Performance, Michael Johnson, says the Schedule has served the health sector well for more than three decades, but the technology underpinning it is ageing and needs to be replaced.

The current Schedule is built on technology that is over 30 years old. It’s critical that we replace this aging technology to reduce risk and ensure the Schedule remains available, secure, and able to be supported for health sector users,” Johnson says.

Pharmac began working on the redevelopment earlier this year and planned to go live with a completely redeveloped Schedule in late 2027.

We have since decided to adjust our approach following feedback from Health New Zealand and sector stakeholders.

“Wider health sector technology changes at the same time meant implementing major changes to the Pharmaceutical Schedule would have created significant change impacts for health sector users,” says Johnson.

“We listened to what we heard and adjusted our plans. For now, we will focus on rebuilding the Schedule on a modern technology platform while maintaining the current Schedule format and outputs that the sector relies on today.”

Pharmac is currently engaging with users to better understand which Schedule formats, information and outputs are most important to them, so we can maintain existing or similar formats as part of the new technology platform where possible.

In the long term, we will transition to a digital-only Schedule supported by a secure data feed. This will give us more flexibility to respond to changes in what Pharmac does and how we support the health sector.

“However, our immediate priority needs to be delivering a stable and reliable replacement for the current system,” says Johnson.

Upgraded components of the Pharmaceutical Schedule will be delivered in stages with the first release expected in mid-2027.

“This phased approach will reduce implementation risk, support user readiness, and allow us to continue working closely with the sector throughout delivery,” says Johnson.

If you use the Schedule and you have any feedback, please contact the project team on scheduleproject@pharmac.govt.nz

 About the Pharmaceutical Schedule Redevelopment