S Island DHBs Throws Out IPA Grab For PHO Funding

Media Release

South Island DHBs Throws Out IPA Grab For PHO Funding

A similar battle for control of PHO funding by GPs associations being played out in both the lower South Island and in Waikato has taken a turn in South Canterbury and Otago with the DHB throwing out the proposal.

South Canterbury DHB Chief executive Chris Fleming reported that his management team has concerns about the role of South Link Health.

He wrote in the report that “South Link Health is trying to be both an IPA [doctors representative group] as well as a Management Services Organisation and yet propose to be a Primary Health Organisation. All three District Health Boards are clear that South Link needs to determine what its purpose is and align itself to this to minimise conflicts.”

Former Waikato Primary Health board member Tania Hodges, who was sacked along with the other independent directors of Waikato Primary Health board two weeks ago, says there are similarities between South Link and the local IPA, Pinnacle.

“Pinnacle has the same inherent conflicts of interest. Is it there to look after the interests of its membership of GPs which it would do as an IPA, or is it there to be a management services organisation to PHOs, or is it a PHO?

If it is an IPA then maximising profits for GPs' businesses is a priority.

If it is a management services organisation providing services to PHOs then its costs and service delivery need to be open for scrutiny.

If it is a PHO then it would have a clear conflict of interest being GP focused rather than trying to involve greater levels of involvement from Māori, the wider community and other health professionals such as pharmacists, podiatrists, counsellors, iwi health workers, and social workers.

Hodges says what the people of Waikato, King Country and Coromandel need to do is ask their District Health Board if they too are going to refuse to accept the conflict of interest that Pinnacle represents.

She says the Waikato DHB has been ‘silent’ on the move by Pinnacle to take control of primary health spending in Waikato and it is time for them to tell the people of Waikato what they intend to do.

“Other DHBs around the country are being confronted by aggressive moves by IPAs and they are developing plans for a more comprehensive look at how primary health service delivery can be improved and how conflicts of interest can be removed. It is time for Waikato DHB to get active and develop a plan for engaging with all stakeholders with the aim of coming up with a sustainable way forward.

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