Corporate governance of public health services: lessons from New Zealand for the state sector.

New Zealand public hospitals and related services were grouped into 23 Crown Health Enterprises and registered as companies in 1993. Integral to this change was the introduction of corporate governance. New directors, largely from the business sector, were appointed to govern these organisations as efficient and effective businesses. This article presents the results of a survey of directors of New Zealand publicly-owned health provider organisations. Although directors thought they performed well in business systems development, they acknowledged their shortcomings in meeting government expectations in respect to financial performance and social responsibility. Changes in public health sector provider performance indicators have resulted in a mixed report card for the sector six years after corporate governance was instituted.