Guest guest Posted January 1, 2008 Report Share Posted January 1, 2008 There have been some changes since then. Nothing major. The government has allowed groups of GPs to form PHOs or public health organizations. This is to try and deliver better health care by funding these PHOs to deliver locally needed health services specific to these communities. The members ( GPs ) decide how that extra money is to be spent. I don't know the specifics of the funding formulae as as a specialist, I have nothing to do with the PHOs. For patients, this means even greater subsidy of visits, and prescriptions. For instance, a prescription that would normally cost $15 drops to $3 if you are a patient of a PHO and over the age of 45. In Wellington laboratory tests ordered by private specialists are no longer free. The rest of the country, they are. If, however, in Wgton the tests are ordered by GPs, they remain free. This was introduced 2 years ago by the local Area Health Board to try and cut costs. However this same heath board has lost the confidence of the government, and a commissioner is being appointed to oversee the democratically elected board. > > > > > > > I ran across this article about the medical system in New Zealand. > NOt sure if it's current or objective: > http://www.pnhp.org/news/2003/january/the_new_zealand_heal.php > > Kathy Broman and her husband have some good friends that migrated > from Iowa to New Zealand a couple of years ago. She might be able > to share some thoughts. > > > > > > > > So, I am in a holding pattern, but will be actively considering > more as > > 2010 > > > approaches. The one thing I have NOT been able to do is connect > with a > > > doctor who is actually practicing there, to see what their > complaints are. > > > It seems NZ has a sort of hybrid system with state support AND > private > > > insurance. As best I have been able to gather, it doesn't look > like the > > > private insurance industry is running as rough-shod over doctors > as ours > > do, > > > but I want to hear that from the front lines before I make any > > commitments. > > > > We deal with patients and not insurance companies. Unless the > patient > > has an injury, and then you deal with the Accident Compensation > Board. > > > > There are state subsidies for docs working as family docs but I've > not > > heard of any difficulties in getting remuneration. Basically you set > > your fees and the state will top up a fixed amount. Or, you can > > capitalize your practice so if you have x number of patients you get > > paid x $ whether you see them or not. > > > > As for the weather, it's more like 9 months of winter and 3 months > of > > summer. NZ is not a warm place in general. It has a cool climate. > > > > -- > > Graham Chiu > > http://www.synapsedirect.com > > Synapse-EMR - innovative electronic medical records system > > > > -- Graham Chiu http://www.synapsedirect.com Synapse-EMR - innovative electronic medical records system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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