Hawke's Bay people are being offered free prescriptions for a year to test how much cost is affecting people's ability to get their medication.
Free Meds Healthier Communities is a study funded by Health Research Council and Pharmac, using researchers from Otago and Victoria universities and Gisborne provider Turanga Health.
It will target people who are taking medicine for Type 2 diabetes or anti-psychotic medication.
They're recruiting 2000 people aged 18 and over, half of whom, chosen at random from the volunteers, will get their prescriptions for free for a year from February 1. The other half will still pay their usual costs, but they will get a $100 supermarket voucher at the end of it, and may get funding support from other sources if they wish.
Research fellow Kim Cousins was in Hawke's Bay last week speaking with pharmacists and others in the health industry and said the purpose will be to establish whether free medicines reduce people's use of hospital services and improve their health and wellbeing.