Tend co-chief executive Cecilia Robinson. The company has confirmed it has been approved to contract directly with Health New Zealand. Photos / NZME, supplied
Tend co-chief executive Cecilia Robinson. The company has confirmed it has been approved to contract directly with Health New Zealand. Photos / NZME, supplied
National primary healthcare company Tend has become its own primary health organisation in three regions, allowing direct contracting with Health New Zealand.
About 80,000 Tend patients will transition to a Health NZ contract by July 1.
Tend’s Cecilia Robinson says the current PHO model is “outdated” and needs reform.
A national company has been approved to become its own primary health organisation, allowing it to leave regional funders and contract directly with Health New Zealand.
Tend has GP clinics in Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Canterbury as well as offering around-the-clock virtual care. Its founder has called for ashake-up of the “power dynamic” in the primary health system.
The change has an organisation for GPs concerned about the “unclear” approval process, as Health NZ cancels planned consultation about the future of PHOs.
Tend confirmed in May it had severed ties with five regional funders, including the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation, to seek a direct Health NZ contract. Tend believed this would “rapidly increase funding for the front line”.
Health NZ contracts primary health organisations (PHOs) to provide primary health services within a geographical area. GP clinics receive capitation funding, and PHOs manage flexible funding used differently by each entity.
A Tend statement said becoming its own PHO marked a “significant milestone” in its mission to provide accessible, modern, and “patient-centred” healthcare.
“It enables us to streamline funding flows, reduce unnecessary administrative layers, and deliver more coordinated, efficient care across the communities we serve.”
Initially, about 80,000 enrolled Tend patients would transition to a Health NZ contract by July 1.
Tend founder and co-chief executive Cecilia Robinson. Photo / Supplied
An estimated additional 100,000 patients were expected to move in the following 12 months.
Tend founder and co-chief executive Cecilia Robinson said the company was “proud to be trusted to take a more direct role in shaping the future of healthcare”.
“But the job is far from done. The current PHO model is outdated, fragmented, and increasingly disconnected from the needs of modern general practice.”
Robinson said it was time to “flip the power dynamic”.
“Primary care providers should have the choice to commission PHOs for support, not the other way around.”
The position echoed the findings of the 2020 Health and Disability System review, which recommended enabling general practices to contract directly with the government.
Robinson said Tend wanted this to be the case for all general practices, regardless of size or structure.
Tend has more than 80,000 enrolled patients nationally. Pictured is its Tauranga branch on Cameron Rd. Photo / Megan Wilson
“That’s how we’ll drive more funding to the front line, support equity and innovation, and ultimately improve the health care experience for every New Zealander.”
Health NZ living well director Martin Hefford said Tend had submitted an application to be approved as a PHO, meaning it will hold a contract with Health NZ.
This had been approved for the Canterbury, metro Auckland and Bay of Plenty areas, he said.
“Health NZ is now not proceeding with consultation regarding the functions of PHOs this year, as related policy work is being undertaken.”
As timeframes for the future functions of PHOs were yet to be determined, Health NZ would “now consider applications for new PHOs on their merits”.
General Practice New Zealand chief executive Maura Thompson said Tend’s announcement was “very recent” and it was seeking clarity from Health NZ about the “unclear” process leading to its decision.
Thompson said it believed PHOs played a “critical” role in maintaining a cohesive, efficient, and equitable primary care system.
She said the Ministry of Health was developing policy work for the future of PHOs and the organisation had been waiting for clarity of this direction “for some time”.
Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation chief executive Lindsey Webber.
Green Cross Health and Third Age Health practices planned to transfer with their 46,000 patients to the Whakatāne-based Eastern Bay Primary Health Alliance in a funding-driven move.
Western Bay of Plenty PHO chief executive Lindsey Webber said it was working with Health NZ to ensure any transitions of practices to other PHOs were “managed carefully with continuity of care at the core”.
She said primary care was “evolving” and the organisation supported changes that “genuinely put patients at the centre and reflect the voices of our communities”.
Webber said it “strongly” disagreed with claims that undervalued the role of PHOs, which had a “long history” of supporting the modernisation and strengthening of general practice.
She said primary care went beyond general practice, providing complementary wraparound services that responded to the community’s diverse needs.
“We are here to ensure everyone can access the care they need, in ways that suits them. We believe patients should have options, because healthcare is not one-size-fits-all.”
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
