Growing the Hospital Medical Devices programme
 Te Pātaka Whaioranga – Pharmac’s Hospital Medical Devices Programme is working to improve national consistency, transparency, equity, and sustainability of expenditure on hospital medical devices.
The programme is focused on designing a fit-for-purpose devices service that brings together feedback from sector engagements, learnings from the medicine processes, and considers what is needed in the new health and disability system to give effect to Pae Ora and te Tiriti o Waitangi.
To support this, we are in the final stages of recruiting several new roles to ensure Pharmac has the specialist skills we need for an optimised medical device service.
I look forward to sharing more about the roles and how this increase in our capacity and capability will support us as we scale up operational activity to deliver additional value to the sector.
Catherine Epps |
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Devices dashboard
How the national contracts are tracking as of February 2024
| 164,000 devices under contract covering $580m of annual hospital expenditure on medical devices. |
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Pharmac Contracts 101
To help new suppliers and users of these agreements, we will have a regular section in Device Advice to outline some of our standard terms. In this edition, we are looking at Clause 9.3 – which relates to the continuity of supply.
Clause 9.3, ‘Permits and standards' highlights a supplier’s obligations regarding the maintenance of rights and permits to supply medical devices to public hospitals.
Continuity of supply is key concern for Pharmac, and we expect suppliers to proactively inform us of changes to the distribution rights they hold for medical devices under contract with us. Until a supplier removes (e.g., by delisting or transferring to another supplier) medical devices listed in their relevant agreement with us, they continue to have obligations for supply of those products.
Suppliers should contact their assigned Pharmac Contract Manager or email our contract management team as soon as any change to their distribution rights is known, as this will allow us to manage those changes with minimal operational disruption to the affected supplier(s) and Te Whatu Ora. |
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Red Sea Conflict
Pharmac is encouraging suppliers to advise us of any potential impact on medical device supply arising from the Red Sea conflict. Please contact your Contract Manager ASAP if you anticipate any supply issues. |
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Being more strategic and coordinated when we collaborate
Like other health entities, Te Pātaka Whaioranga – Pharmac is working on ways to meet the requirements of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022.
As part of this work, we have developed an engagement strategy to implement meaningful and genuine engagement with Māori, Pacific peoples, disabled people, consumers and whānau, advocates, and the wider health and disability system.
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Health Sector Catalogue
The Health System Catalogue (HSC) is increasingly becoming the primary source of product data for the health system. It will help us improve data alignment and unlock future opportunities for both suppliers and health system users. As previously communicated:
- future tenders and commercial agreements for hospital medical devices will require participation in the HSC.
- participation in the HSC will be a criterion in product selection decisions.
- publishing data sets to the HSC will be a pre-requisite to any new EDI engagement for Te Whatu Ora.
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| Category |
Supplier |
Date |
| Consultations notified since 8 December 2023 |
| Medical imaging, software and associated products |
Technisonic Systems 2013 Limited |
24 January |
| Dental and oral health products |
Ortho Medics Limited |
23 January |
Anaesthetic machines, invasive ventilators, neonatal care and critical care patient monitoring (“Critical Care”)
Patient assessment, monitoring and treatment devices |
Connected Healthcare Systems Limited |
15 January |
| Agreements notified since 8 December 2023 |
Anaesthetic machines, invasive ventilators, neonatal care and critical care patient monitoring (“Critical Care”)
Patient assessment, monitoring and treatment devices |
Connected Healthcare Systems Limited |
13 February |
Non-invasive ventilation and consumables
Medical and surgical instruments, and power tools. |
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited |
24 January |
Surgical implants
Medical and surgical instruments and power tools. |
Olympus New Zealand Limited |
19 December |
| Anaesthetic machines, invasive ventilators, neonatal care and critical care patient monitoring (“Critical Care”) |
InterMed Medical Limited |
18 December |
We notify all new supplier agreements and list all new proposals on the Consultations and Decisions page on the Pharmac website. You can also keep track of what’s happening in each category on our hospital devices page. |
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Supply challenges for medical devices
We are working with suppliers, Te Whatu Ora hospitals, and the Ministry of Health, to minimise the impact of supply issues for hospitals and people in care. If you are experiencing any issues in the supply of Pharmac contracted medical devices, please email our contract management team.
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We'd love to hear from youWe welcome any feedback on our work, our website, or this newsletter. You can email enquiry@pharmac.govt.nz or contact the person identified in a specific consultation or notification. Noho ora mai rā!
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