THE NEW-ZEALAND PRIORITY CRITERIA PROJECT .1. OVERVIEW

New Zealand restructured its health system in 1992 with the aim of ach ieving greater levels of assessment and accountability in the publicly funded health sector. A committee was established specifically to adv ise the minister of health on the kinds, and relative priorities, of h ealth services that should be publicly funded. One of its projects has been to develop standardised sets of criteria to assess the extent of benefit expected from elective surgical procedures. These have been d eveloped with the help of professional advisory groups using a modifie d Delphi technique to reach consensus. So far the committee has develo ped criteria for cataract surgery, coronary artery bypass grafting, hi p and knee replacement, cholecystectomy, and tympanostomy tubes for od ds media with effusion. These criteria incorporate both clinical and s ocial factors. Use of priority criteria to ensure consistency and tran sparency regarding patients' priority for surgery is required for acce ss to a dedicated NZ$ 130m (f57m; US$90m) pool of money, created to he lp eliminate surgical waiting lists and move to booking systems. The c riteria will also be used in surgical outcome studies, currently in th e planning phase.