Implementing new forms of collaboration and participation in primary health care: leveraging past learnings to inform future initiatives.

Introduction Within primary health care policy, there is an increasing focus on enhancing involvement with secondary health care, social care services and communities. Yet, translating these expectations into tangible changes frequently encounters significant obstacles. As part of an investigation into the progress made in achieving primary health care reform in Aotearoa New Zealand, realist research was undertaken with those charged with responsibility for national and local policies. The specific analysis in this paper probes primary health care leaders' assessments of progress towards more collaboration with other health and non-health agencies, and communities. Aim This study aimed to investigate how ideas for more integration and joinedup care have found their way into the practice of primary health care in Aotearoa New Zealand. Methods Applying a realist logic of inquiry, data from semi-structured interviews with primary health care leaders were analysed to identify key contextual characteristics and mechanisms. Explanations were developed of what influenced leaders to invest energy in joined-up and integrated care activities. Results Our findings highlight three explanatory mechanisms and their associated contexts: a willingness to share power, build trusting relationships and manage task complexity. These underpin leaders' accounts of the success (or otherwise) of collaborative arrangements. Discussion Such insights have import in the context of the current health reforms for stakeholders charged with developing local approaches to the planning and delivery of health services.

The 2022 restructure of Aotearoa New Zealand's health system: Will it succeed in advancing equity where others have failed?

Aotearoa New Zealand has restructured its health system with the objective of addressing inequitable access to health services and inequitable health outcomes, particularly those affecting the indigenous Maori population. In July 2022, two new organisations were created to centralise planning, funding and provision responsibilities for publicly funded health services in Aotearoa New Zealand. Health New Zealand and the Maori Health Authority have been created to drive transformational change within the national health system and monitor and improve the health and wellbeing of Maori. At the local level, new Localities are to be formed with the aim of integrating services between government and non-government health and social services providers, while incorporating local Maori and local communities in co-design of services. These changes will be of interest to those in many other countries who are grappling with their own colonial histories and struggling to provide health services in ways that are equitable and contribute to positive health outcomes for their whole population. Although key aspects of the reforms are well supported within the health sector, the ambitious scope and timing of their introduction in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and health workforce shortages can be expected to generate significant implementation challenges.

Violence against healthcare workers in the middle of a global health crisis: what is it about policy and what to learn from international comparison?

Introduction: Violence against healthcare workers is a global health problem threatening healthcare workforce retention and health system resilience in a fragile post-COVID 'normalisation' period. In this perspective article, we argue that violence against healthcare workers must be made a greater priority. Our novel contribution to the debate is a comparative health system and policy approach. Methods: We have chosen a most different systems comparative approach concerning the epidemiological, political, and geographic contexts. Brazil (under the Bolsonaro government) and the United Kingdom (under the Johnson government) serve as examples of countries that were strongly hit by the pandemic in epidemiological terms while also displaying policy failures. New Zealand and Germany represent the opposite. A rapid assessment was undertaken based on secondary sources and country expertise. Results: We found similar problems across countries. A global crisis makes healthcare workers vulnerable to violence. Furthermore, insufficient data and monitoring hamper effective prevention, and lack of attention may threaten women, the nursing profession, and migrant/minority groups the most. There were also relevant differences. No clear health system pattern can be identified. At the same time, professional associations and partly the media are strong policy actors against violence. Conclusion: In all countries, muchmore involvement from political leadership is needed. In addition, attention to the political dimension and all forms of violence are essential.

Understanding geographical variations in health system performance: a population-based study on preventable childhood hospitalisations.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate interdistrict variations in childhood ambulatory sensitive hospitalisation (ASH) over the years. DESIGN: Observational population-based study over 2008-2018 using the Primary Health Organisation Enrolment Collection (PHO) and the National Minimum Dataset hospital events databases. SETTING: New Zealand primary and secondary care. PARTICIPANTS: All children aged 0-4 years enrolled in the PHO Enrolment Collection from 2008 to 2018. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: ASH. RESULTS: Only 1.4% of the variability in the risk of having childhood ASH (intracluster correlation coefficient=0.014) is explained at the level of District Health Board (DHB), with the median OR of 1.23. No consistent time trend was observed for the adjusted childhood ASH at the national level, but the DHBs demonstrated different trajectories over the years. Ethnicity (being a Pacific child) followed by deprivation demonstrated stronger relationships with childhood ASH than the geography and the health system input variables. CONCLUSION: The variation in childhood ASH is explained only minimal at the DHB level. The sociodemographic variables also only partly explained the variations. Unlike the general ASH measure, the childhood ASH used in this analysis provides insights into the acute conditions sensitive to primary care services. However, further information would be required to conclude this as the DHB-level performance variations.

Integrated Care in Aotearoa New Zealand 2008-2020.

INTRODUCTION: Ten years ago, progress towards integrated care in Aotearoa New Zealand was characterised as slow. Since then, there has been a patchwork of practices occurring under the broad umbrella of integrated care. These include: collective planning approaches (i.e., alliancing), agreed pathways of care, chronic care management initiatives, shared patient information systems, co-located centres and indigenous models of holistic care (e.g., Whanau Ora). DESCRIPTION: Although integrated care is often mentioned in national policy documents, implementation has been left to regional and local decision making, and very few initiatives have spread beyond their initial locations. DISCUSSION: System incentives that preserve organisational "sovereignty" and path-dependent funding have slowed progress towards more integrated care in some areas. There is some evidence about specific initiatives and their impact, but it is difficult to discern significant trends and commonalities around the country. CONCLUSION: In the last ten years, the broad range of initiatives designed to achieve integrated care has absorbed regional and local attention and produced some evidence of progress, but the national picture of change is mixed.

Variation in publicly funded bariatric surgery in New Zealand by ethnicity: cohort study of 328,739 patients.

BACKGROUND: New Zealand health services are responsible for equitable health service delivery, particularly for Maori, the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand. Recent research has indicated the presence of inequities in publicly funded bariatric surgery in New Zealand by ethnicity, but it is unclear whether these inequities persist after adjustment for co-morbidities. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether receipt of publicly funded bariatric surgery varies by ethnicity, after adjustment for co-morbidities. SETTING: New Zealand primary care. METHODS: A cohort study of New Zealanders aged 30-79 years who had cardiovascular risk assessment in primary care between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2018. Data were collated and analyzed using an encrypted unique identifier with regional and national datasets. Cox proportional hazard modeling was performed to determine the likelihood of receipt of a primary publicly funded bariatric procedure up to December 31, 2018, after adjustment for sex, age, ethnicity, locality, socioeconomic deprivation, body mass index, diabetes status, smoking status, and co-morbidities. RESULTS: A total of 328,739 participants (44% female, median age 54 yr [interquartile range, IQR, 46-62], 54% European, 13% Maori, 13% Pacific, 20% Asian) were included in the study and followed up for a median of 5.6 years (IQR 4.1-6.9). The likelihood of receipt of bariatric surgery was lower for Maori and Pacific compared with Europeans (adjusted hazard ratio .82 [95% CI .69-.96] and .24 [.20-.29], respectively). The likelihood of receiving bariatric surgery was also inversely related with increasing socioeconomic deprivation and rurality. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with data worldwide, there is evidence of unequal access to publicly funded bariatric surgery by ethnicity, locality as well as socioeconomic deprivation among New Zealanders who were cardiovascular risk assessed in primary care.

New Zealand's Integration-Based Policy for Driving Local Health System Improvement - Which Conditions Underpin More Successful Implementation?

INTRODUCTION: The System Level Framework (SLMF) is a policy introduced by New Zealand's Ministry of Health in 2016 with the aim of improving health outcomes by stimulating inter-organisational integration at the local level. We sought to understand which conditions that vary at the local level are most important in shaping successful implementation of this novel and internationally significant policy initiative relevant to integrated care. STRATEGY AND METHODS: We conducted 50 interviews with managers and clinicians who were directly involved in SLM implementation during 2018. Interview data was supplemented with the SLM Improvement Plans of all districts over the first three years of implementation. We used Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to identify the combinations and configurations of necessary and sufficient conditions of successful implementation. RESULTS: We found that the strength of formal and informal organisational relationships at the local level were critical conditions for implementation success, and that while fidelity to the policy programme was necessary, it was not sufficient. Broader contextual features such as population size and complexity of the organisational environment were less important. The SLMF was able to deepen and widen inter-organisational collaboration where it already existed but could not mitigate the legacies of weaker relationships. DISCUSSION: The two dimensions of implementation success, 'Maturity of SLM Improvement Plan Processes' and 'Data Sophistication and Use' were closely related. Broadly, our findings support the contention that integrated approaches to health system improvement at the local level require collaborative, trust-based approaches with an emphasis on iterative learning, including the willingness to share data between organisations. CONCLUSION: In the context of integrated care, our findings support the need to focus on establishing the conditions that build collaborative governance in addition to strengthening it when it already exists.

A survey of the NP workforce in primary healthcare settings in New Zealand.

AIM: The aim of the survey was to describe the demographics, distribution, clinical settings and employment arrangements of the New Zealand nurse practitioner workforce in primary healthcare settings; and organisational factors limiting their practice. METHOD: An online survey was developed and sent to all NPs in mid-2019. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 160 nurse practitioners who worked in settings broadly defined as primary healthcare (response rate 71.4%). In addition to clinical work, nurse practitioners engaged in teaching and clinical supervision; leadership and management; policy development; locum work; and research; but 14% continued to do at least some work as a registered nurse. One hundred and fifty-one respondents were working clinically and 48% of these worked in more than one clinical setting. General practice-type settings (39%), of which over 40% were very low-cost access practices, and aged residential care (19%) were most commonly identified as the main clinical setting. Others included long-term conditions; mental health and addiction; sexual health/family planning; whanau ora; child/youth health; and various community nursing service roles. Seventy-three percent of nurse practitioners earned less than $120,000 per annum for full-time work; and 60% had $2,000 or less available for professional development. Three quarters had worked in the same setting for at least two years, and 60% intended to stay a further three years. Fourteen percent worked rurally. Employment models, models of care, and access to diagnostics, particularly radiology, were most limiting to their practice. CONCLUSION: The nurse practitioner workforce offers stability and flexibility in working across multiple clinical settings in primary healthcare. They provide the potential solution to the general practitioner workforce shortage by improving access to primary healthcare and reducing health inequalities. As authorised prescribers able to enrol patients, receive capitation payments and claim general medical services, it is timely to facilitate the expansion of the nurse practitioner workforce in New Zealand.

Gaming New Zealand's Emergency Department Target: How and Why Did It Vary Over Time and Between Organisations?

BACKGROUND: Gaming is a potentially dysfunctional consequence of performance measurement and management systems in the health sector and more generally. In 2009, the New Zealand government initiated a Shorter Stays in Emergency Department (SSED) target in which 95% of patients would be admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department (ED) within 6 hours. The implementation of similar targets in England led to well-documented practices of gaming. Our research into ED target implementation sought to answer how and why gaming varies over time and between organisations. METHODS: We developed a mixed-methods approach. Four organisation case study sites were selected. ED lengths of stay (ED LOS) were collected over a 6-year period (2007-2012) from all sites and indicators of target gaming were developed. Two rounds of surveys with managers and clinicians were conducted. Interviews (n=68) were conducted with clinicians and managers in EDs and the wider hospital in two phases across all sites. The interview data was used to develop explanations of the patterns of variation across time and across sites detected in the ED LOS data. RESULTS: Our research established that gaming behaviour - in the form of 'clock-stopping' and decanting patients to short-stay units (SSUs) or observation beds to avoid target breaches - was common across all 4 case study sites. The opportunity to game was due to the absence of independent verification of ED LOS data. Gaming increased significantly over time (2009-2012) as the means to game became more available, usually through the addition or expansion of short-stay facilities attached to EDs. Gaming varied between sites, but those with the highest levels of gaming differed substantially in terms of organisational dynamics and motives. In each case, however, high levels of gaming could be attributed to the strategies of senior management more than to the individual motivations of frontline staff. CONCLUSION: Gaming of New Zealand's ED target increased after the real benefits (in terms of process improvement) of the target were achieved. Gaming of ED targets could be minimised by eliminating opportunities to game through independent verification, or by monitoring and limiting the means and motivations to game.

Ontario and New Zealand Pharmaceuticals: Cost and Coverage.

Ontario is a strong candidate for a comprehensive pharmacare program, given that it has a pre-existing public drug benefit program (the Ontario Drug Benefit Program [ODBP]). This paper outlines strategies from New Zealand's national pharmacare program (the Pharmaceutical Management Agency [PHARMAC]) and compares these strategies to other international examples. It is recommended that the ODBP engage in three strategies currently utilized by the PHARMAC to achieve significant cost savings and create potential to increase their insurance coverage: (i) strict budgeting; (ii) tendering and negotiating; and (iii) reference pricing.

'Complexity-compatible' policy for integrated care? Lessons from the implementation of Ontario's Health Links.

Complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory views healthcare as numerous sub-systems characterized by diverse agents that interact, self-organize, and continuously adapt. We apply this complexity science perspective to examine the extent to which CAS theory is a useful lens for designing and implementing health policies. We present the case of Health Links, a "low rules" policy intervention in Ontario, Canada aimed at stimulating the development of voluntary networks of health and social organizations to improve care coordination for the most frequent users of the healthcare system. Our sample consisted of stakeholders from regional governance bodies and organizations partnering in Health Links. Qualitative interview data were coded using the key complexity concepts of sensemaking, self-organization, interconnections, coevolution, and emergence. We found that the complexity-compatible policy design successfully stimulated local dynamics of flexibility, experimentation, and learning and that important mediating factors include leadership, readiness, relationship-building, role clarity, communication, and resources. However, we saw tensions between preferences for flexibility and standardization. Desirable developments occurred only in some settings and failed to flow upward to higher levels, resulting in a piecemeal and patchy landscape. Attention needs to be paid not only to local dynamics and processes, but also to regional and provincial levels to ensure that learning flows to the top and informs decision-making. We conclude that implementation of complexity-compatible policies needs a balance between flexibility and consistency and the right leadership to coordinate the two. Complexity-compatible policy for integrated healthcare is more than simply 'letting a thousand flowers bloom'.

How do Policy and Institutional Settings Shape Opportunities for Community-Based Primary Health Care? A Comparison of Ontario, Québec and New Zealand.

Community-based primary health care describes a model of service provision that is oriented to the population health needs and wants of service users and communities, and has particular relevance to supporting the growing proportion of the population with multiple chronic conditions. Internationally, aspirations for community-based primary health care have stimulated local initiatives and influenced the design of policy solutions. However, the ways in which these ideas and influences find their way into policy and practice is strongly mediated by policy settings and institutional legacies of particular jurisdictions. This paper seeks to compare the key institutional and policy features of Ontario, Québec and New Zealand that shape the 'space available' for models of community-based primary health care to take root and develop. Our analysis suggests that two key conditions are the integration of relevant health and social sector organisations, and the range of policy levers that are available and used by governments. New Zealand has the most favourable conditions, and Ontario the least favourable. All jurisdictions, however, share a crucial barrier, namely the 'barbed-wire fence' that separates funding of medical and 'non-medical' primary care services, and the clear interests primary care doctors have in maintaining this fence. Moves in the direction of system-wide community-based primary health care require a gradual dismantling of this fence.

New Zealand's emergency department target - did it reduce ED length of stay, and if so, how and when?

BACKGROUND: In 2009, the New Zealand government introduced a hospital emergency department (ED) target - 95% of patients seen, treated or discharged within 6 h - in order to alleviate crowding in public hospital EDs. While these targets were largely met by 2012, research suggests that such targets can be met without corresponding overall reductions in ED length-of-stay (LOS). Our research explores whether the NZ ED time target actually reduced ED LOS, and if so, how and when. METHODS: We adopted a mixed-methods approach with integration of data sources. After selecting four hospitals as case study sites, we collected all ED utilisation data for the period 2006 to 2012. ED LOS data was derived in two forms-reported ED LOS, and total ED LOS - which included time spent in short-stay units. This data was used to identify changes in the length of ED stay, and describe the timing of these changes to these indicators. Sixty-eight semi-structured interviews and two surveys of hospital clinicians and managers were conducted between 2011 and 2013. This data was then explored to identify factors that could account for ED LOS changes and their timing. RESULTS: Reported ED LOS reduced in all sites after the introduction of the target, and continued to reduce in 2011 and 2012. However, total ED LOS only decreased from 2008 to 2010, and did not reduce further in any hospital. Increased use of short-stay units largely accounted for these differences. Interview and survey data showed changes to improve patient flow were introduced in the early implementation period, whereas increased ED resources, better information systems to monitor target performance, and leadership and social marketing strategies mainly took throughout 2011 and 2012 when total ED LOS was not reducing. CONCLUSIONS: While the ED target clearly stimulated improvements in patient flow, our analysis also questions the value of ED targets as a long term approach. Increased use of short-stay units suggests that the target became less effective in 'standing for' improved timeliness of hospital care in response to increasing acute demand. As such, the overall challenges in managing demand for acute and urgent care in New Zealand hospitals remain.

Contrasting approaches to primary care performance governance in Denmark and New Zealand.

In high-income countries, the arena of primary health care is becoming increasingly subject to 'performance governance' - the harnessing of performance information to the broader task of governance. Primary care presents many governance challenges because it is predominantly provided by sole practitioners or small organisations. In this article we compare Denmark and New Zealand, two small countries with tax-funded health systems which have adopted quite different instruments for performance governance in primary care. Denmark has adopted a 'soft hierarchy' approach to primary care performance based on accreditation processes but few strong sanctions, whilst New Zealand has relied on a combination of explicit hierarchical targets and financial incentives. These differences are attributable to: primary care institutional arrangements, - specifically, the presence or absence of 'intermediate organisations'- ; the degree to which policy processes are corporatist or pluralist; and the mix of objectives of primary care policies. We conclude that New Zealand's approach has relied heavily on 'extrinsic' incentives, whereas Denmark exhibits the opposite problem of overreliance on intrinsic motivation to improve quality, without 'extrinsic' instruments to address other important goals such as population health and equity. Our comparative framework has the potential to be applied across a wider range of countries.

Measuring and managing health system performance: An update from New Zealand.

In July 2016, New Zealand introduced a new approach to measuring and monitoring health system performance. This 'Systems Level Measure Framework' (SLMF) has evolved from the Integrated Performance and Incentive Framework (IPIF) previously reported in this journal. The SLMF is designed to stimulate a 'whole of system' approach that requires inter-organisational collaboration. Local 'Alliances' between government and non-government health sector organisations are responsible for planning and achieving improved health system outcomes such as reducing ambulatory sensitive hospitalisation for young children, and reducing acute hospital bed days. It marks a shift from the previous regime of output and process targets, and from a pay-for-performance approach to primary care. Some elements of the earlier IPIF proposal, such as general practice quality measures, and tiered levels of performance, were not included in the SLM framework. The focus on health system outcomes demonstrates policy commitment to effective integration of health services. However, there remain considerable challenges to successful implementation. An outcomes framework makes it challenging to attribute changes in outcomes to organisational and collaborative strategies. At the local level, the strength and functioning of collaborative relationships between organisations vary considerably. The extent and pace of change may also be constrained by existing funding arrangements in the health system.

Health System Regionalization - the New Zealand Experience.

New Zealand's health system has many similarities with Canada, and also has longstanding experience with regionalization of healthcare services. Since 2001, the most important change has been the development of regional primary healthcare organizations funded according to population characteristics. This significant change has created the potential for a more integrated health system. However, barriers remain in realizing this potential. The key challenges include dealing with inter-organizational complexity and finding the right balance between hierarchical and collaborative relationships between the state and non-government providers. Although New Zealand governments have greater capacity to make changes to organizational and policy changes, professional interests retain considerable capacity to shape policy outcomes through implementation.