Medical Devices team working proactively with suppliers

Last month, Pharmac ran a successful webinar with over 190 attendees from across New Zealand tuning in to learn more about Pharmac's medical devices programme.

Director of Medical Devices Catherine Epps says the webinar was a great opportunity for suppliers to connect with Pharmac, and for Pharmac to provide suppliers with clear and useful information about the medical devices programme.

"Our vision for the Programme and our work is to drive better value, more consistent and equitable access to Hospital Medical Devices, in order to deliver the best health outcomes for all New Zealanders," she says.   

Update on developing a comprehensive list

Pharmac is close to having a comprehensive list of medical devices used by Health New Zealand. This list will improve transparency and consistency of medical device funding and procurement.

Pharmac is working to have a comprehensive list medical devices available by 1 July 2025.  We expect around 75-85 per cent of items on the list to be on Pharmac contracts, while the rest of the list will be filled with non-contracted items from the Health System Catalogue.

The draft comprehensive list will be released for consultation in February/March 2025, and will be shared with suppliers, Health NZ and other interested parties. Feedback will ensure any products that are missed from the Health System Catalogue or the Pharmac list are identified.

This is important because eventually hospitals will only be able to buy items on the list. There will be an exceptions process for exceptional circumstances.

We want the comprehensive list to cover what is used in hospitals, so to make the process simpler, suppliers should make sure their products with sales are listed on the HSC.

Following the consultation, Pharmac will finalise the comprehensive list.

Contracting work will still progress before and after 1 July 2025 including:

• for non-contracted products
• contract maintenance with contracted suppliers (that we undertake currently)
• ongoing market processes to support category management goals.

Pharmac will continue to update suppliers as more information is finalised.

Conferences provide opportunity for feedback on Medical Devices 

Pharmac’s Medical Devices team had a busy time recently, attending conferences around the country and engaging with health care workers, laboratory scientists, and suppliers to better understand their views on Pharmac’s medical device programme.

Pharmac staff attended the Infection Prevention and Control Nurses College (IPCNC) bi-annual conference in Hamilton and the New Zealand Institute of Medical Laboratory Science (NZIMLS) conference in Christchurch.

These conferences gave the team opportunities to engage with healthcare professionals who use medical devices every day and hear their views on Pharmac’s medical device programme.

Senior Advisor Expert Advice Nic Aagaard says attending the IPCNC conference was a great opportunity to develop relationships to support Pharmac’s expert advice function for medical devices.

"During the breaks, the team engaged with the speakers, nurses, and suppliers to better understand their views on Pharmac’s medical device programme. We heard that there is strong interest and support for developing the comprehensive list so that suppliers can understand the medical device landscape," he says.

The NZIMLS conference gave the Medical Devices team the chance to engage with laboratory scientists and suppliers.  This conference was another good opportunity to build new relationships and explain Pharmac's role in the sector.

Senior Device Category Manager/Team Leader Tyson Edwards says it was heartening to see enthusiasm from laboratory staff for national  consistency in testing and equipment use.

"I hope we can work together with these stakeholders to understand where these opportunities exist. It was great to see how passionate laboratory staff are about the mahi they do and how they strive never to lose sight of the patients they serve but never see."

Pharmac’s Medical Devices team will keep working proactively with the sector to improve health outcomes for New Zealanders.

Devices Contracts 101 - Deslisting 

How to remove medical devices from the Pharmaceutical Schedule.
The list of medical devices under Pharmac contracts can be changed by agreement, and delisting medical devices from the schedule can be initiated by either Pharmac or suppliers.

This might be for a range of reasons, such as no sales, changes in distribution, safety issues or manufacturing discontinuations.
 
When a device is discontinued, or a supplier is exiting a market, devices need to be delisted. For all delisting requests, Suppliers should get in touch with Pharmac as soon as possible, so that Pharmac can ensure that supply is maintained for Health New Zealand.
 
There are 5 main things suppliers need to provide to get started with a request to delist a medical device:

• a list of the relevant product codes
• the reason for the delisting request
• sales in the previous 12 months
• a list of any suitable alternative medical devices on the Pharmaceutical Schedule
• any Health New Zealand feedback regarding the delisting request.

If you are delisting a medical device that Health New Zealand is currently using, a replacement needs to be found that won't cost more.
 
Pharmac has developed a Delisting template for suppliers to fill out and pass on to their Pharmac contract manager. You can access the template here.

Health System Catalogue

The Health System Catalogue (HSC) is increasingly becoming the primary source of product data for the health system. It will help us improve data alignment and unlock future opportunities for both suppliers and health system users. 
The latest update from HSC shows: 

• 197 suppliers are live
• 166 suppliers have published pricing
• 79% of suppliers are on Pharmac contracts
• 237,789 active items in supplier catalogues
• 122,701 prices published. 

If you need to discuss any issues you are having, or you would like to publish a data set, please contact Ian Malone, Supplier Engagement Lead.

The evaluation of responses to the Registration of Interest (ROI) for PPE has been completed and all suppliers have been notified of the outcome. Only suppliers that demonstrated they met the requirements as set out in the ROI will be invited to respond to the future Request for Proposal (RFP) processes.

The first RFP will cover the gowns, aprons and masks sub-categories. Suppliers that were successful in the ROI process for these sub-categories will be notified in advance of the RFP being released.

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