Tend Welcomes PHO Approval but Calls Time on Outdated System

SECTOR UPDATE - Tend

Tend Health has been approved to become its own Primary Health Organisation (PHO), enabling the company to contract directly with Te Whatu Ora and better serve its rapidly growing enrolled population across New Zealand.

Tend’s integrated network now supports over 80,000 enrolled patients through a single patient record and a unified digital infrastructure, with up to 100,000 more expected to join in the next 12 months. Our model is purpose-built to deliver consistent, high-quality care at scale.

This milestone reflects years of focused investment in our clinics and digital infrastructure. We’ve built a powerful platform that enables seamless virtual and in-person care, driven by a single patient record and real-time health data.

By embedding measurable outcomes, smarter decision support, and enhanced continuity of care, we’re already delivering services well beyond the traditional PHO remit, making care more proactive, equitable, and effective for the communities we serve.

Becoming our own PHO marks a significant milestone in Tend’s mission to provide accessible, modern, and patient-centred healthcare. It enables us to streamline funding flows, reduce unnecessary administrative layers, and deliver more coordinated, efficient care across the communities we serve.

“We welcome this step and see it as a natural extension of the work we’re already doing to deliver more integrated, accessible, and patient-centred primary care. We're proud to be trusted to take a more direct role in shaping the future of healthcare” said Cecilia Robinson, Co-CEO of Tend. “But the job is far from done. The current PHO model is outdated, fragmented, and increasingly disconnected from the needs of modern general practice. It’s time to flip the power dynamic, primary care providers should have the choice to commission PHOs for support, not the other way around.”

This position echoes the findings of the 2020 Health and Disability System Review, which recommended enabling general practices to contract directly with the government, a shift that would streamline funding and improve accountability across the sector.

“We believe in a future where all general practices, regardless of size or structure, can contract directly with Te Whatu Ora,” Robinson said. “That’s how we’ll drive more funding to the frontline, support equity and innovation, and ultimately improve the health care experience for every New Zealander. Until that happens, we’re working within a dysfunctional system well past its use-by date.”

Tend acknowledges the support and collaboration of Te Whatu Ora in reaching this milestone and remains committed to working alongside Te Whatu Ora and other sector partners to modernise New Zealand’s primary care system, putting patients, not bureaucracy, at the centre.

Source: Tend media release

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