How Can Primary Health Care Contribute Better to Health System Sustainability? a Treasury Perspective

FOREWORD This paper is intended to stimulate discussion on ways in which the objectives of the Primary Health Care Strategy may be further progressed. It has made available to the Ministry of Health to serve as a resource for ongoing policy work. The paper provides a high-level discussion of a range of future directions for the Strategy, largely within the current institutional framework. It does not advocate a particular direction. The paper focuses on options for developing better contractual relationships between PHOs and primary health care providers as a way of altering behaviours, while recognising any change in this complex area needs to be part of an overall approach that covers a number of other dimensions in parallel, including public expectations, system performance information, clinical governance and PHO analytical and purchasing capability, and workforce. We acknowledge that the paper does not reference all performance information or innovation currently occurring in the sector.