Photo: RNZ
As part of effort to solve the problems facing the health service, the government has turned to the private sector to try to reach some of it's own health targets.
These include directing Health New Zealand to sign 10 year contracts with private hospitals to perform elective surgeries.
Now an Auckland academic, who is comparing privatisation here with the health system in the United States, says New Zealand is reaching a tipping point with increased investment from private equity and increased consolidation of GP practices, at primary level.
Professor Jaime King, who is an expert in health law at Auckland Law School, also points to increased investment by current physicians into businesses they refer patients to, such as imaging services and laboratories.
