Tend founder and co-chief executive Cecelia Robinson is seeking a direct contract with Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.
Tend founder and co-chief executive Cecelia Robinson is seeking a direct contract with Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.
National primary healthcare company Tend is leaving five regional funders to seek a direct contract with Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.
Tend believes this would increase frontline resources.
Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation has expressed concerns about continuity of care and access to services.
A healthcare company with a national network of general practices and 140,000 enrolled patients is severing ties with five regional funders as it seeks a direct contract with Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.
In Western Bay of Plenty, where Tend has about 17,000 enrolled patients, it would becomethe third healthcare provider to leave the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation (PHO).
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.
Tend, however, wanted all general practices to be able to contract directly to the Government, which would “rapidly increase funding for the front line”.
“We believe that all of general practice should be able to directly contract through government. We think that is the best way to be able to rapidly increase funding for the front line.”
Western Bay was one of five PHOs she had given notice to. She expected to leave the other four Tend worked with next year.
Robinson said it had 140,000 patients enrolled in 23 clinics nationally – 80,000 patients had been “fully on-boarded” to the Tend platform and were part of its “integrated network”, intended to come under the Health NZ contract.
The rest were likely to move next year.
Tend's Tauranga branch on Cameron Rd. Photo / Megan Wilson
A statement from Tend said its decision to leave the Western Bay PHO reflected “broader challenges” it faced operating a national care model across nine PHOs, each with its own systems, contracts and reporting frameworks.
It said “fragmentation” across PHOs introduced “unnecessary complexity and administrative burden”, which undermined patient and clinician experiences.
Asked how Tend would use the Government funding differently to the PHO, Robinson said Tend already provided “a significant amount of the services the PHO supposedly provides to us”.
This included after-hours services in the Bay of Plenty, and “thousands upon thousands” of consultations.
Robinson said the PHO chief executive had been publicly quoted saying Tend had 14,000 enrolled patients in the Western Bay, which was incorrect.
She said she questioned the value the PHO was adding if it did ”not even get our enrolled number correct ...”
Robinson said she believed “broadly most of the sector” endorsed Tend’s position.
Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation chief executive Lindsey Webber.
Western Bay of Plenty PHO chief executive Lindsey Webber said the 14,000 enrolled patient figure was a “rough estimate made during a phone conversation, without precise data on hand”.
“It was based on a broad calculation of the 60,000 patients expected to transition, minus approximately 46,000 attributed at the time to Green Cross and Third Age. These were rounded figures, not formal reporting.”
Webber said enrolment numbers were ”not static” and its data as of May 15 showed 16,890 patients enrolled in Tend practices within its network.
Webber understood the move reflected “broader operational preferences within Tend”, but the company had not confirmed a new funding arrangement.
“At this stage, there is no mechanism for direct contracting with Te Whatu Ora Health NZ.
“That leaves important questions unanswered – particularly around continuity of care, access to services and whether free programmes tailored to our community’s needs will remain available to affected patients.”
Tend has given notice to leave the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation from June 30.
Webber said claims funding retained by the PHO did not reach the front line were “misleading”.
She said “flexi-funding” was given to primary health organisations and each used it differently to meet local health need, whether delivered through general practice, PHO-led programmes, or subcontracted community services.
It was “dedicated” to patient care and specifically used for addressing local health priorities and supporting high needs patients.
Capitation funding went to general practices to support their operations.
A breakdown of how the PHO allocated funding was published on its website on May 19.
It said the “entire” $53m in capitation funding in the 2024/25 financial year was passed to general practices.
Of $9m in flexi-funding, about about 70% was available to general practices and 15% supported wrap-around services that worked alongside general practice or served people outside clinic settings, and health promotion.
The remaining 15% contributed to PHO management and system-wide support functions such as staff for breast screening.
Health NZ was approached for comment.
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.
