Device Advice
PHARMAC's bi-monthly newsletter about the management of hospital medical devices.
Issue 42 - February 2021
In brief
As of 1 February 2021, the Pharmaceutical Schedule includes over 129,000 contracted line items from over 100 suppliers. These contracts cover approximately $333 million of annual DHB hospital expenditure on medical devices.
All contracted products are listed in the Addendum for Medical Devices in Section H, Part III of the Pharmaceutical Schedule.
New agreements with suppliers
The following agreements have been completed since 11 December 2020 (the previous issue of Device Advice).
We notify all new supplier agreements on our website in the section called Consultations and Decisions
Consultations
The following proposals have opened for consultation since 11 December 2021 (the previous issue of Device Advice).
We list all new proposals on our website in the section called Consultations and Decisions
Keep track with what’s happening in each category on our website.
Upcoming contracting
In September, PHARMAC released a Registration of Interest (“ROI”) for several categories where NZ Health Partnerships have run competitive processes. Contracting as a result of this process is in progress and agreements will be notified over the next few months.
Future Procurement Opportunities have been released for additional categories where PHARMAC intends to release similar ROI’s in 2021.
Supply management
Since the early stages of COVID-19, PHARMAC has been actively working with our contracted suppliers and wider industry groups to identify supply risks and impacts to the general supply chain. PHARMAC has provided direct support to several of our contracted suppliers; this support has included leveraging our networks to ease logistics issues through to temporary financial support for increased freight costs in material cases.
We expect to continue seeing some challenges in the general supply chain and with international manufacturing disruptions and will continue to manage this as appropriate. If you are experiencing any issues with the supply of PHARMAC contracted medical devices, please contact us at contractmanagement@pharmac.govt.nz.
Progressing our work
The next stage in our management of hospital medical devices will involve PHARMAC managing a national list of medical devices, DHBs choosing the products they need from this list, and PHARMAC implementing a process to consider DHBs accessing items outside the list in exceptional circumstances. It will also mean some changes to the way suppliers interact with DHBs and PHARMAC.
Work is underway to continue to develop the operational approach, taking into account feedback received on our consultation “Managing fairer access to medical devices”. To support us in developing this, we will engage with a range of groups across the sector for their unique input.
We are currently establishing the District Health Board (DHB) Strategic Medical Devices Advisory Group that will provide guidance and support on PHARMAC’s programme of work. DHBs are complex organisations, and the Advisory Group will help us ensure we engage with the right people within DHBs in the right way. The Advisory Group’s first meeting is in March.
We will begin focused engagement with other important groups and stakeholders before the middle of this year. We will engage with selected individuals to further develop and test the processes, including representatives from DHBs, professional organisations like colleges and societies, suppliers, and groups representing Maori, Pacific, consumer, and disability views. Following this, we will broaden our engagement to include a wider range of stakeholders. We are developing, or have developed, appropriate mechanisms to engage with these stakeholders; we will keep you updated as further details are confirmed.
Annual Procurement Plan
Our Annual Procurement Plan (APP) includes a list of expected procurements for the next 12 months. Please note that the current version was prepared before COVID-19, and therefore is subject to change.
Contact us
Feedback on our work, our website, or this newsletter is welcome:
Subscribe to Device Advice to keep up to date with developments relating to the management of hospital medical devices.
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