No solution yet as NPs unpaid for coroner reports

The reports can take time to prepare, require a full review of the medical file and include a lot of detail

The Ministry of Justice is still trying to work out how it can pay nurse practitioners for doing reports for coroners.

Since last July, private practice GPs who write the reports have been able to claim $200 plus GST an hour, for up to four hours, from the ministry.

A new regulation at that time allowed GPs to be paid, after lobbying by the General Practice Owners Association. But Palmerston North’s Kauri Healthcare is among those who want NPs to also be paid for the reports.

Speaking for the ministry, Richard Williams says there is no legislative or regulatory provision for NPs to be paid for completing medical reports requested under section 40 of the Coroners Act 2006.

Mr Williams, courts and tribunals regional service delivery acting group manager, says the ministry – as noted in July last year – is investigating a number of potential operational avenues to facilitate payment of NPs.

In July, the then group manager Jacquelyn Shannon said via email that Section 40 of the act specifies a coroner may request a written health report from the doctor who attended a person before their death.

The act defines “doctor” as a health practitioner registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand. NPs do not meet this definition, Ms Shannon said.

The ministry was looking into the matter, and there may be “operational options to provide payment if appropriate”.

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In July last year, Craig Johnston, chief executive of Kauri HealthCare in Palmerston North, told New Zealand Doctor Rata Aotearoa it was good to see GPs being paid for preparing reports for the coroner, but it was a shame the policy wasn’t thought through fully.

Mr Johnston had written to the ministry to say NPs should also be reimbursed for doing them.

About nine per cent of Kauri HealthCare’s 19,000 patients were registered with NPs, who had full responsibility for their care.

If the coroner asks for a report about one of those patients, an NP will complete it, he said. “If the NP is the lead person looking after that patient, they should be writing the report and therefore should be paid.”

The reports can take time to prepare, require a full review of the medical file and include a lot of detail, he added.

Also in July last year, GenPro chief executive Philip Grant told New Zealand Doctor Rata Aotearoa his association was in contact with the ministry, advocating for NPs being able to claim for writing the reports.

And chair Tim Malloy – a Coast to Coast Health Care co-owner and specialist GP – said NPs can legally certify death, therefore may be in the best position to write a report for a coroner.

If the NP is doing the same work as a doctor, “they probably need to be paid in the same manner”, Dr Malloy said.