Accident Compensation Corporation

Elective Surgery Services - Request for Information (RFI)

Through this Request for Information (RFI), we are seeking input and ideas on innovative business models for providing surgical capacity to address the challenges faced by ACC in delivering shoulder surgeries. Our focus is on improving access, enhancing outcomes, addressing equity issues, and managing costs effectively.

ACC procures over 40,000 elective surgeries annually across various disciplines, including approximately 5,000 shoulder surgeries. These operations are crucial to meeting the healthcare needs of our kiritaki (clients). Our objective is to drive better value for our clients and all New Zealanders by reducing waiting times for surgery, minimising unwarranted variability in treatment pathways, improving equity, and reducing the costs of individual surgeries and the entire treatment pathway.

We are eager to engage with the healthcare sector to explore how new commissioning approaches with hospitals, surgeons, and private sector investors could lead to a more efficient, equitable, and client-centered approach to the provision of elective shoulder surgeries. Specifically, we are seeking approaches that focus on increasing surgical capacity for ACC patients. Respondents should present ideas that create additional surgical capacity or improve access to current capacity. Potential commissioning models could
include (but are not limited to):

• ACC guaranteeing minimum volumes of shoulder surgeries over a fixed time period (e.g., 500 surgeries per year for five years) to help respondents underwrite the construction of purpose-built,
lower-cost surgical facilities.
• ACC guaranteeing minimum volumes of shoulder surgeries over a fixed time period to streamline access and efficiency within current capacity; for example, enabling providers to organize shoulder-specific lists to streamline implants and teams or operate two theatres simultaneously.
• ACC guaranteeing minimum volumes of shoulder surgeries over a fixed time period in return for a hybrid model of streamlined access in some locations and in the short term, with new capacity
added over the medium term.

Participating in this RFI will help inform our plans for delivering better outcomes for kiritaki and for all New Zealanders. Responses may help shape the scope and direction of any potential future procurement processes for elective surgeries, which could give rise to significant future business opportunities and influence the development of health service provision in New Zealand.