Reforming Primary Health Care in New Zealand
Author Information
Author(s): Jacqueline Cumming, Nick Mays, Barry Gribben
Primary Institution: Health Services Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington
Hypothesis
Is New Zealand's Primary Health Care Strategy achieving its early goals?
Conclusion
The Strategy has resulted in lower fees for primary health care for many New Zealanders, and consultation rates have also increased over the past few years.
Supporting Evidence
- Fees fell particularly in Access practices over time for doctor and nurse visits.
- Consultation rates increased across almost all age, funding model, socio-demographic, and ethnic groups.
- Fees for those aged 65 years and over fell as new funding was provided for this age group.
Takeaway
New Zealand's government tried to make health care cheaper and easier to access, and it worked for many people, but not as much as they hoped.
Methodology
The study used a before-and-after design to analyze fees and consultation rates in a random sample of 99 general practices from June 2001 to mid-2005.
Potential Biases
Potential bias in fee setting due to practitioners' historical behaviors and financial circumstances of patients.
Limitations
The study lacks a control group for comparison and may have under-estimated the number of consultations due to missing invoices.
Participant Demographics
The sample included a diverse range of patients from different age groups and socio-economic backgrounds.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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