NEW ZEALAND | Aged care and retirement village operators considering new technology have to fund its introduction while meeting the costs of everyday care.
The investment also requires time from the people who will assess, introduce, and use it, making the demands on the business greater than the purchase price alone.
A healthcare briefing published by BNZ this month examined how providers could prepare for that transition. It encouraged businesses to investigate funding options early and bring procurement, security, and governance into the initial planning.
Liz Rowe, Special Counsel at MinterEllisonRuddWatts, contributed an aged care and retirement village perspective to BNZ’s 2026 Healthcare Sector Insights Report. Drawing on almost 20 years advising these industries, she identified uncertainty about where to begin as a barrier to technology adoption, particularly when significant capital was involved.
“The first move into adopting any kind of tech is often the hardest,” said Rowe.
Rowe advocated involving professional advisers from the outset to help providers assess risks and procure technology that could be implemented successfully. Her contribution placed considerable weight on the work required before an operator committed to a purchase.
For an aged care business, that preparation has a direct commercial purpose. A system’s value depends on how well it works within the service, including the training it requires, the support available, and whether staff can use it effectively alongside their existing responsibilities.
The financing timetable matters, too. BNZ noted that business loans, asset finance, and private capital have different lead times, encouraging providers to explore their options before the need for investment became urgent.
Rowe also raised the possibility of collective investment, identifying industry associations as a potential forum for providers to pursue shared opportunities. This opens a separate discussion about which costs need to be carried by individual businesses and which might be shared.
Where operators have similar requirements, there may be merit in examining joint procurement or development. The commercial case would depend on whether a shared approach reduced costs without making implementation more difficult for the participating providers.
That is a useful question for a sector in which each village or care facility has its own operating requirements. Agreement on a common problem may be relatively straightforward; deciding how to fund, govern, and support a shared solution will determine whether the investment can proceed.
Read more here.
