Our strategic priorities
Pharmac’s strategic priorities sit within the broader health and disability sector.
Our work contributes to the Government’s vision of pae ora (healthy futures) for New Zealanders. Our strategy is built around improving the way we assess, manage, and invest in medicines and medical devices.
In 2024, Pharmac has been focused on making improvements in three key areas - strategic management of the medicines budget, enhanced assessment and decision making, and strategic management of hospital medical devices.
Strategic management of the medicines budget
“The medicines budget is set by the Government, and it’s what we use to pay for the medicines you need to stay healthy, the medicines that support your care in your hospitals, as well as vaccines and other health products that support your wellbeing.
“Each year we have to carefully plan and manage our medicines budget to make sure that we get the best health outcomes for New Zealanders and improve health equity.
“The number of people requiring medicines grows each year. In 2023/24, over 4 million New Zealanders received funded medicines – 100,000 more people than the previous year. And there are constantly new medicines being developed.
“As a result of the Government’s $604 million budget boost in June 2024, by the end of 2024 we had funded or expanded access to 32 medicines and were consulting on a further 12 medicines. More decisions are coming in 2025.
“It’s been incredible to be able to fund and widen access to so many new medicines this year for so many New Zealanders who need them.
“Another area of focus for us has been to make sure that once medicines are funded, people who need them can actually get them. This year, we have been working closely with Health New Zealand, the Cancer Control Agency, and the Ministry of Health as part of a cross-sector group focused on making sure that services are ready and available for people to start on their new medicines as soon as possible.”
Enhanced assessment and decision-making
“Pharmac goes through a thorough, evidence-based assessment process for every medicine that we consider funding.
"A priority for Pharmac this year has been looking at ways to increase consumer input and participation in our decision making.
“We have also been improving our processes and the way we work.
“We changed our process to allow parallel assessments for all medicines, meaning Pharmac can assess a funding application at the same time Medsafe is assessing the application for regulatory approval. As a result, medicines will be able to be considered for funding sooner in New Zealand.
“We significantly reduced the time it takes for us to assess Named Patient Pharmaceutical Assessment (NPPA) applications. This is when we consider funding a treatment for an individual patient, following a request from their doctor. Our target is to make decisions on at least half of all applications within 10 days. In October 2024, over 90% of NPPA applications were closed within 10 working days, well exceeding this target.
“Alongside these improvements, we’ve been laying the foundations internally to improve how we make assessments and that work will continue in the coming year.”
Strategic management of hospital medical devices
“Pharmac has continued our work to improve the way medical devices are managed in New Zealand in 2024.
“Medical devices are essential to the care you receive in hospitals and in your communities. They range from things like bandages and cotton swabs, to pacemakers, hip replacements, even hospital beds and robotic surgery machines.
“Our team has continued work to finalise a comprehensive list of medical devices used by Health New Zealand. By the end of 2024, approximately 75 percent of devices used in public hospitals (by spend) were now under Pharmac contracts. In 2025, work will continue towards closing the list of medical devices that public hospitals purchase from.
"This work will ultimately mean that no matter where you live in the country, your hospital will have access to the same medical devices, for the same price, under the same terms and conditions.
“By knowing what is in use, the health system will be able to make the best investments and long-term decisions about what medical devices need to be funded and used.
“We’ve continued to strengthen our key relationships with suppliers and our other health sector partners to ensure that we get the best health outcomes for New Zealanders.”