Pharmac Reports Progress on Faster Decisions and Patient Involvement

Seymour said Pharmac previously faced protests from patient communities frustrated with its decisions and processes, while its current approach gives those communities a stronger voice.

New Zealand's medicines funding agency Pharmac has reported progress in speeding up assessments, strengthening patient involvement and improving collaboration across the health sector as it works through a multi-year programme of organisational change.

Associate Health Minister David Seymour welcomed the agency's summary report on its response to the Government's 2025/26 Letter of Expectations, saying Pharmac has undergone a significant shift in the way it approaches patients, funding decisions and relationships with the wider health system.

The report tracks Pharmac's performance against 13 expectations set for the 2025/26 period. As of June 2026, the agency had introduced or started several changes covering medicine assessments, consumer engagement, rare disorders, exceptional circumstances, digital systems and its longer-term strategy.

Patients given a stronger role in funding decisions

The central change highlighted by Seymour is greater involvement of patients and consumers in Pharmac's work. The agency has established a Consumer and Patient Working Group and a dedicated consumer engagement team intended to bring the experiences of people using medicines and health technologies more directly into its processes.

Seymour said Pharmac previously faced protests from patient communities frustrated with its decisions and processes, while its current approach gives those communities a stronger voice. He wants patients, consumers and their families to remain closely involved as the agency works to improve access to medicines and medical technology.

The shift also reflects an effort to change Pharmac's relationship with other parts of the health sector. Seymour said the agency is moving beyond a narrow focus on managing a fixed pharmaceutical budget and placing greater emphasis on collaboration, improved outcomes and making the case for additional funding where needed.

Transparency is another part of that approach, with progress against the Government's expectations being published so patients and the wider public can follow the changes and assess Pharmac's performance.

Faster assessments targeted as medicine backlog is addressed

The time taken to assess funding applications has remained a major area of attention. Pharmac has been trialling a streamlined assessment pathway and introducing new performance measures designed to reduce application backlogs and improve the speed of decision-making.

Seymour said he expects further progress on assessment times while maintaining transparency and strong partnerships across the health sector. Faster processes can be particularly important for patients waiting to learn whether medicines or medical technologies will receive public funding, although decisions must still consider clinical evidence, costs and competing health priorities.

Pharmac has also updated policy settings for rare disorders to bring them into line with New Zealand's Rare Disorders Strategy. People with rare conditions can face distinctive challenges because treatments may serve relatively small patient populations and can carry substantial costs, making funding assessments particularly complex.

Work has begun on a review of Pharmac's Exceptional Circumstances Framework, including the Named Patient Pharmaceutical Assessment process, commonly known as NPPA. The framework provides a route for considering funding in individual situations where treatments may not otherwise be routinely available.

Digital investment forms part of longer-term Pharmac changes

Pharmac has developed a refreshed vision and strategy intended to provide a clearer direction for the organisation, with trust, collaboration and innovation among its priorities. Significant investment in data and digital capabilities is also progressing, including upgrades to tools and internal processes.

Seymour described the changes as Pharmac's first clear multi-year programme of organisational improvement, while acknowledging that the work remains unfinished. Consumer engagement, decision-making times and cooperation with the wider health sector will remain key measures of whether the programme produces practical improvements for New Zealanders seeking access to treatments.

The Government expects Pharmac to continue developing the reforms rather than treating the latest progress report as the end of the process. Seymour said patient and consumer voices will remain central as the agency moves into the next stage of its long-term improvement programme.

For patients, the impact of the changes will ultimately be judged by whether Pharmac can make well-supported decisions more quickly, communicate those decisions clearly and provide meaningful opportunities for people affected by them to participate in the process.