Health Sector Information Release
Page updated 15 Feb 2007
The Treasury has released material relating to the Treasury's work on health sector productivity, its in-depth review of the health sector and its input to the review of the Ministry of Health.
Read the related media release by Hon Dr Michael Cullen, Minister of Finance on the Beehive web site: Treasury reports on health sector (15 February 2007).
Health Sector Productivity
One of Treasury's roles is to advise on the macroeconomy and considering productivity issues is an important focus of the Treasury's work programme.
The set of papers released here includes Treasury work on measuring productivity in the health sector. It includes discussion of the complexities involved in such measurement - a challenge for New Zealand and other OECD countries.
In-depth Review of the Health Sector
During April to December 2005 the Treasury undertook an in-depth review of the health sector. The background material that fed into this review and that formed the Treasury's advice to Ministers is released here.
This material reflects judgements made by the Treasury about the health sector. While the Treasury drew heavily on published information, others may have reached different conclusions. Note that work is also ongoing by the Ministry of Health to address many of the issues raised.
Some of the material is now dated in a technical sense. For example, PHARMAC’s estimates of the cost per Quality Adjusted Life Year for a range of pharmaceuticals provide a snapshot based on the best data available at the time. PHARMAC may well come to different conclusions now if it were to re-run those calculations on more recent data.
Review of the Ministry of Health
The Treasury provided some input into the Director-General of Health's review of the Ministry of Health in 2006.
Information Withheld
Some relatively minor parts of some documents are withheld under section 9(2)(g)(i) of the Official Information Act 1982 - “maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions”.
Using PDF Files
| Doc. Date | Type | Title | View/Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Feb 2007 | Treasury Report | Treasury Report T2005/344: Value for Money in Health - The DHB Sector Released 15 February 2007 |
tr05-344.pdf (127 KB) |
| 28 Jun 2005 | Treasury Report | Treasury Report T2005/1307: Productivity - An Update on Progress Released 15 February 2007 |
tr05-1307.pdf (98 KB) |
| [13 May 2005] | Treasury Briefing Note for Discussion with Minister of Finance | Ensuring a Healthy Future/Health Funding Sustainability Work: Issues for Discussion Tuesday 3 May Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-ehfhfs-may05.pdf (22 KB) |
| May 2005 | Extract from Draft Treasury Paper | Lessons from International Benchmarking: Health Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-bench-health.pdf (346 KB) |
| Jun 2005 | Background Material for the Treasury's Health In Depth Review | Health Expenditure Projections Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-bgd-hep.pdf (242 KB) |
| [14 Jun 2005] | Treasury Briefing Note for Discussion with Minister of Finance | Ensuring a Healthy Future/Health Funding Sustainability Work: Issues for Discussion on Tuesday 14 June 2005 Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-ehfhfs-jun05.pdf (33 KB) |
| 24 Aug 2005 | Ministry of Health Letter to the Treasury | [Comments on Treasury Benchmarking Report] Released 15 February 2007 |
moh-letter-31oct05.pdf (21 KB) |
| 31 Oct 2005 | Treasury Report | Ensuring a Healthy Future - Progress Note Released 15 February 2007 |
tr05-2014.pdf (46 KB) |
| [Nov 2005] | Treasury Briefing Note | Health Service Reviews - Governance and Funding Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-hsrgf.pdf (70 KB) |
| [Dec 2005] | Treasury Briefing Note | Draft Terms of Reference for Health Area Service Reviews: Scope Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-draft-trasr.pdf (26 KB) |
| [6 Dec 2005] | Treasury Briefing Note for Discussion with Minister of Finance | Ensuring a Healthy Future/Health Funding Sustainability Work: Issues for Discussion on Tuesday 6 December Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-ehfhfs-dec05.pdf (31 KB) |
| [Sep 2006] | Treasury Input to the Ministry of Health Review Team | Ministry of Health Review: Stakeholder Messages from the Treasury Released 15 February 2007 |
tsy-mohr-stake.pdf (29 KB) |
Related Information on the Treasury Web Site
- Previous health sector-related information releases on the Treasury web site:
- Health Funding and Insurance Release (9 December 2004)
- Treasury Report - Costs of Subsidising Private Health Insurance (28 February 2002)
- Treasury working paper and policy perspectives paper:
- Measurement of Public Sector Output and Productivity (Policy Perspectives Paper 06/09, 2006)
- Population Ageing and Government Health Expenditures in New Zealand, 1951-2051 (Treasury Working Paper 04/14, 2004)
