On a mission to reduce barriers to healthcare for rangatahi in low-decile schools, clinicians in the Waikato SBHS are using a collaborative care model that is improving health outcomes and engagement for students and their whānau.

Foundation Standards are the minimum standard all practices need to meet to ensure that they are eligible for capitation. It is also now being used nationally to enable other services such as maternity, COVID-19 vaccination and access to shared IT systems such as CCCM.

Pinnacle’s growing mātanga tapuhi nurse practitioner and nurse prescriber workforce is having a significant impact across the network, relieving pressure on GPs, providing patients with greater access to healthcare, and reducing acute calls and hospital admissions.

From Tairāwhiti to Taupō and across to Taranaki, Pinnacle Extended Care Teams are experiencing increased referral demand and growing support from general practices.

The Pinnacle rural committee is seeking rural GP representatives.

Farewell to Ventures chief executive Christine Hall, who will step down on 24 December. In the past two years Christine has led a significant transformation of the business by having a laser focus on its core competencies and key strengths.

From 1 January 2022, Taranaki and Tairāwhiti indici claims for primary mental health extended GP consultations will be a one step process and practices will not be required to ‘outcome’ cases. Any claims lodged before 31 December will still need to be outcomed.

The Ministry of Health introduced changes to the claiming process for maternity services in November 2021. PMS systems have been updated to reflect these changes and this will go a long way to guide providers to through the new claims available.

We're making some changes to the governance structure and senior leadership of Ventures. From 1 January 2022 Ventures and Pinnacle Midlands Health Network will be governed by one board, and one group chief executive will lead both subsidiaries.

Pinnacle would like to provide a platform for Māori clinicians to help inform and implement our Māori health strategy.