Service Engagement – submission form

Purpose of this engagement 

ACC is seeking information and perspectives from current and potential service suppliers and providers to better understand the factors influencing the financial sustainability, performance, and delivery of ACC-funded services. 

As part of our ongoing contract management, we regularly review pricing across our services to ensure funding remains fair, sustainable, and aligned with the outcomes we’re seeking for our kiritaki (clients). Sustainable means there's an ability to meet ACC service requirements efficiently over time, including necessary workforce, operating, and reinvestment costs.​  

This engagement is intended to gather information before ACC undertakes its pricing review analysis. ACC does not intend to undertake a further sector engagement on any subsequently proposed pricing adjustments before recommendations are considered by the ACC Board. ACC will consider all information received through this process, but retains responsibility for all final decisions. 

No specific pricing or service changes are currently proposed. The information provided will help us build a more complete picture of supplier and provider experience, service performance, and market conditions to inform future pricing and broader commissioning decisions. 

This engagement opportunity seeks to ensure future service and pricing approaches support: 

  • sustainable and accessible services for ACC clients 
  • efficient use of levy and Crown funding 
  • positive client rehabilitation and recovery outcomes 
  • a healthy and sustainable market 
  • equity of access across different populations and regions. 

We recognise that pricing is one of several levers that may influence supplier and provider sustainability, access, quality, and service delivery. Not all issues affecting ACC-funded services can or should be addressed through pricing alone. 

Why your information matters 

ACC holds information about service use, expenditure and performance, but this doesn't always show the full circumstances suppliers and providers face or how those circumstances affect service delivery. The information you provide will help us test and supplement the information available to ACC, identify issues that may not be visible in our data, and understand whether pressures are service-specific, regional, or market-wide. 

More complete and service-specific information will help us undertake more targeted analysis. While a submission does not guarantee a particular pricing or commissioning outcome, it provides an opportunity for supplier and provider experience, information, and recommendations to be considered as part of our decision-making. 

Find out more at about this pricing review

Instructions 

Please complete the submitter information section and respond to the questions relevant to your organisation and the ACC-funded services you deliver.  

Wherever possible, support your response with relevant and verifiable information. This may include: 

  • financial and cost information 
  • workforce and payroll data 
  • service volumes, capacity and utilisation trends 
  • outcome and performance data 
  • access and waiting-time information 
  • independent research or benchmarks 
  • documented case studies
  • aggregated or de-identified client feedback. 

We'll give greater weight to information that: 

  • relates clearly to the relevant ACC-funded service 
  • is supported by verifiable evidence 
  • presents a complete view of the issue, rather than a selective perspective
  • identifies assumptions, estimates, allocations, and limitations 
  • explains the scale and materiality of the issue 
  • demonstrates how the information supports the response being proposed. 

You can respond at an organisation level, service level, or contract level. Where information relates to multiple ACC-funded services, please identify which services are included and any important differences between them. 

You do not need to answer every question. Focus on the questions most relevant to your organisation and the services you provide. We recognise that supplier and providers differ in size, capacity and access to information. Where detailed information is unavailable, you may provide your operational experience, explain the impact observed, and identify any limitations in the information available.

Any supporting or additional documents can be emailed to

Email pricingreview2027@acc.co.nz

Submissions close 5pm, Wednesday 4 November 2026. 

Publication, confidentiality, and privacy 

ACC intends to publish a summary of submissions reporting the key themes, evidence, and issues raised through this engagement and how these informed ACC’s analysis. We may use your information in the summary of submissions, but we will do so at an aggregated or de-identified level that should not identify individual parties. 

Submissions may be subject to requests under the Official Information Act 1982 and will be managed in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 and ACC’s other legal obligations. Submitters must clearly identify confidential or commercially sensitive information and explain the grounds that may justify withholding it. Do not provide client-level or identifiable client information. Use aggregated or de-identified information wherever possible. 

By making a submission, you confirm that: 

  • you are authorised to provide the information contained in your submission; 
  • the information provided does not breach any confidentiality or other obligations owed to a third party; and 
  • your submission does not contain identifiable personal or health information about clients. 

Participation in this engagement, including whether you choose to submit information, will not provide an advantage or disadvantage in future procurement, contracting, or commercial processes. 

Submitter information

ACC service / contract (you can select more than one)
Region(s) of operation
Organisation size / type
Organisation entity type
Approximate proportion of your organisation’s revenue that is derived from ACC-funded services

Section 1: Business sustainability and pricing adjustments 

Purpose of this section

We're seeking information about the financial sustainability of ACC-funded services to better understand the cost pressures suppliers and providers face and how these affect service delivery. This includes understanding the major cost drivers of delivering services, how those costs have changed over time, the extent to which productivity improvements, volume changes, or other efficiencies have offset those pressures, and whether current pricing supports sustainable delivery. 

The information will help us distinguish between: 

  • cost pressures that may warrant changes to pricing, funding, or contract settings 
  • issues that may be better addressed through operational, service design, or workforce responses 
  • factors affecting sustainability that are not directly related to service costs. 

The information provided will help us assess the relationship between service costs, sustainability, and the potential impact on service capacity, access, workforce availability, quality, and client outcomes. 

Question 1: What are the main costs to deliver the ACC-funded service? 

Why we’re asking: Understanding the overall cost structure helps us identify which costs have the greatest influence on service delivery and where pressures vary across services, professions, regions or delivery models. It also helps us assess whether a broad or more targeted response may be appropriate. 

Please estimate the approximate share of total service cost represented by each applicable category. Estimates or ranges are acceptable. If costs are shared across services, briefly explain how you allocated them. 

Cost driver (select all that apply)

Question 2: How have your costs changed over the last three years? 

Why we’re asking: This information helps us understand the nature and scale of cost changes affecting ACC-funded services, and whether the pressures are temporary, ongoing, service-specific, or more widely experienced. It also helps us compare supplier and provider information with other market, economic, and service information. 

Please provide information for your most material cost drivers. Where exact figures are unavailable, provide a reasonable estimate or range and identify any assumptions used.

Cost driver

Question 3: After allowing for changes in service volume, service mix, productivity, and actions taken to manage costs, how has the cost of delivering each unit of the ACC-funded service changed? 

Why we’re asking: An increase in a particular cost doesn’t necessarily result in an increase in the overall cost of delivering a service unit. Understanding the combined effect of costs, volume, service mix, productivity, and actions helps us assess the underlying change in service delivery costs and its relevance to pricing. 

Range

Question 4: What other factors, outside of changes in service costs, have affected the financial sustainability of the ACC-funded service? 

Why we’re asking: Service sustainability can be affected by more than changes in input costs. Understanding other material factors helps us determine whether an issue may be better addressed through pricing, funding, service design, contract settings, or operational changes. 

Please consider matters such as changes in ACC revenue or service volumes, client complexity or resource requirements, service utilisation, referral or approval processes, and other factors that affect the sustainability of the service but are not changes in the cost of delivering it. 

Factors

Revenue and service volumes

Client complexity

ACC operational processes (eg. referrals, approvals) 

Other

Question 5: To what extent do current ACC prices support financially sustainable delivery of the service? 

Why we’re asking: This information helps us understand if current ACC prices support efficient and sustainable service delivery and the extent to which this may apply. The supporting information will help us assess the materiality of any pricing issue and inform the consideration of a broad or targeted response.

Sustainable delivery is defined as the ability to meet ACC service requirements efficiently over time, including necessary workforce, operating, and reinvestment costs. 

What is your assessment of the extent to which current ACC prices support financially sustainable delivery of your service?

Question 6: What effect is the current financial position having, or expected to have, on delivery of the ACC-funded service? 

Why we’re asking: Financial pressure is most relevant to commissioning decisions when it affects, or is likely to affect, the delivery of ACC-funded services. This information helps us understand the scale and timing of any consequences for participation, capacity, access, quality, outcomes, workforce, coverage, or investment.

Areas affected
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes
Timing
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes 
Timing
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes 
Timing
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes 
Timing
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes 
Timing
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes 
Timing
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes
Timing
Scale of impact
Low: limited or occasional impact, Medium: recurring or material impact, High: substantial effect on service availability, access, quality, or outcomes 
Timing

Section 2: Business structures and operating models

Purpose of this section

We're seeking information about how suppliers and providers organise and deliver ACC-funded services, including how funding flows, where responsibilities and risks sit, and how ACC’s service, contract, and operational requirements impact delivery. The information will help us consider whether changes to service design, contract requirements, funding arrangements, or operational processes could improve efficiency, access, quality, or outcomes. It'll also help distinguish pressures that may require an ACC response from those arising from wider market conditions or individual business models.  

Question 7: How is the ACC-funded service delivered within your organisation? 

Why we’re asking: Different delivery approaches can affect service costs, capacity, access, accountability and where delivery risks sit. Understanding how the service operates helps us interpret the other information in your submission and consider whether future service, contract, or funding settings remain appropriate. 

Please briefly describe how your organisation delivers the service. You don't need to provide commercially sensitive details. Please focus on aspects of your delivery approach that we should understand when considering future service, contract, or funding settings. 

Question 8: Which ACC service requirements or operating processes support effective service delivery, and which make it harder? 

Why we’re asking: ACC requirements and processes can support effective delivery, but they can also create cost, delays, duplication, or reduced flexibility. Understanding both the positive and negative effects helps us identify practical improvements and avoid removing settings that support quality, accountability, or client outcomes. 

Examples may include service specifications or eligibility requirements, referral and approval processes, interactions with ACC teams, reporting and invoicing requirements, ACC technology systems, performance and quality requirements, assurance or audit activities, and flexibility to respond to different client needs. 

Where possible, please provide information about the impact, such as: 

  • additional staff time or cost 
  • delays or duplication 
  • effects on capacity or access 
  • effects on quality or client outcomes 
  • positive effects that should be retained. 

Section 3: Workforce and capacity

Purpose of this section 

We're seeking information about the workforce and capacity available to deliver ACC-funded services. This includes understanding the mix and availability of the workforce, recruitment and retention pressures, capacity constraints, and whether these factors are affecting access, timeliness, quality, or continuity of service. The information will help us consider whether any future response should involve pricing, funding, service design, contract settings, workforce initiatives, or action by suppliers and providers. 

Estimates or ranges are acceptable. If staff work across several services or purchasers, provide a reasonable estimate or state that an ACC-specific allocation is not available. 

Question 9: What is the workforce requirement to deliver the ACC-funded service?  

Why we’re asking: Workforce requirements influence the cost, capacity, and resilience of ACC-funded services. This information helps us understand which workforce groups are required to deliver the service, the experience mix needed, and whether remuneration or vacancy pressures differ by profession or delivery model. 

Where Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) cannot reasonably be allocated to the ACC-funded service, organisation or service-level information may be provided with an explanation of its scope. 

Question 10: What recruitment or retention challenges are affecting delivery of the ACC-funded service? 

Why we’re asking: This helps us distinguish general workforce pressure from constraints that are materially affecting ACC-funded service delivery. Understanding which workforce groups and regions are affected, and the resulting impact on capacity, access or quality, will help us consider whether any response should be broad, targeted, or led by suppliers and providers. 

Where possible, please provide information about vacancy levels and how long positions remain vacant, staff turnover or difficulty retaining particular groups, reliance on contractors, locums or temporary staff, competition from other employers or types of work, regional or specialist workforce shortages, supervision, training or professional-development requirements, and whether the challenge has changed over the last three years. 

Question 11: What actions could suppliers and providers take to address workforce and capacity pressures?

Why we’re asking: We want to understand how suppliers and providers are responding to workforce and capacity pressures, what's been effective, and what issues remain after those actions are taken. This helps us distinguish where this action may be sufficient or where an ACC or wider market response may need to be considered. 

Please include any changes you recommend that we make, and what your organisation would do differently as a result, in the Recommendations section (Section 6). 

Section 4: Outcomes and value 

Purpose of this section 

We're seeking information about the outcomes and value delivered by ACC-funded services. This includes understanding which outcomes suppliers and providers can reasonably influence, what information is currently used to understand service performance, and whether our current measures support service improvement and accountability. 

The information will help us consider how future service design, funding, contract, and performance settings could better support quality, timeliness, client outcomes, and value for money. 

Question 12: What value does the ACC-funded service generate for clients, ACC, and the wider system? 

Why we’re asking: Pricing and commissioning decisions need to consider what a service delivers as well as what it costs. While ACC has a perspective on the benefits our services deliver, this information helps us understand your perspective on the outcomes and wider benefits generated by the service, the service’s contribution to those benefits, and the information available to you that demonstrates that value. 

Please describe the most important outcomes and other benefits generated by the service. Where possible, explain the service’s contribution to those benefits and provide information that supports your assessment. 

Value may include improved client outcomes or experience, earlier or more equitable access, more timely or durable recovery, avoided need for further treatment or support, improved efficiency, reduced downstream costs, or benefits for other parts of the health and social system. 

Question 13: How should ACC assess the value generated by the service? 

Why we’re asking: ACC’s measures should provide a meaningful and practical view of service performance and value. Your response will help us understand what the current measures capture well, what they may miss, and whether better information could be collected and used without creating disproportionate reporting effort. 

Section 5: Future service delivery 

Purpose of this section 

We're seeking information about changes that may affect how ACC-funded services are delivered over the next three to five years. This includes emerging opportunities and risks relating to client needs, workforce, technology, service models, markets, and the wider health system. 

The information will help us consider whether future service design, funding, contract, or operational settings may need to change to maintain or improve service capacity, access, quality, outcomes, and value for money. 

Question 14: What significant opportunities or risks are likely to affect delivery of the ACC-funded service over the next three to five years? 

Why we’re asking: Pricing, contract, and service settings need to remain effective as delivery conditions change. Understanding the most significant future risks and opportunities, and how suppliers and providers intend to respond, will help us anticipate where ACC settings may need to adapt over the next three to five years.

These could include changes in client needs or service demand, workforce availability or ways of working, clinical practice or service models, technology and digital service delivery, capacity or market structure, costs, investment requirements or infrastructure, other purchasers or parts of the health system, or legislation, regulation, or professional requirements. 

Section 6: Recommendations 

Purpose of this section 

We're seeking views on the changes, if any, we should consider in response to the issues, opportunities, and risks identified in this submission. Recommendations may relate to pricing, payment or funding arrangements, service design, contract requirements, operational processes, workforce or market initiatives, or performance settings. Please link each recommendation to the relevant information provided elsewhere in your submission. 

Question 15: What changes, if any, should ACC consider in response? 

Why we’re asking: The issues identified in this submission may require different responses, and pricing will not always be the most effective option. Linking each recommendation to the issue and supporting information will help us assess whether a response is required, which commissioning lever is most appropriate, and what change it is expected to produce.

Section 7: Additional information 

Supporting information

Do you wish to send us supporting information as part of your submission?

Supporting information may include: 

  • financial and cost information 
  • workforce and payroll information 
  • service volumes, capacity, and utilisation information 
  • access and waiting-time information 
  • outcome and performance information 
  • independent research or benchmarks 
  • documented case studies 
  • aggregated or de-identified client feedback. 

Please clearly identify: 

  • the source of the information 
  • whether it relates specifically to the ACC-funded service 
  • any assumptions, estimates, or allocation methods used 
  • any known gaps or limitations 
  • any information you consider confidential or commercially sensitive. 

Supporting documents can be emailed to pricingreview2027@acc.co.nz. Please use the name of your organisation and the relevant service in the file name or email subject. 

As outlined in the ‘Publication, confidentiality, and privacy’ section, please confirm any questions or sections you want to be treated as confidential. Please select from the following, if relevant:
Would you like to receive a copy of your submission by email?