Primary health organisations (PHOs) will probably remain outside freedom of information law because they are not statutory bodies, the lead commissioner of a major review of the Official Information Act (OIA) says.
John Burrows was the lead commissioner for the Law Commission report The Public's Right to Know, which recommends a series of improvements to the 30-year-old Act.
These included increasing the number of publicly funded bodies subject to it.
However, this would probably not extend to PHOs, Prof Burrows said.
This was because they were not statutory bodies, although whether they should be included anyway could be "debated".
Prof Burrows said deciding which entities were subject to freedom of information laws vexed lawmakers in many countries, as there were no clear-cut answer.
The Act had done a good job, and its spirit of openness would be retained in any changes, he said.
Southern Primary Health Organisation chief executive Ian Macara said the organisation fielded quite a few calls from members of the public seeking information.
Despite not being subject to the Act, the PHO answered any query as long as it did not compromise patient safety, or a commercial contract, Mr Macara said.
Southern was a "little PHO" with "nothing to hide", he said.
Its annual revenue was about $52 million, about 85% of which was doctor visit subsidies.
The PHO's legal status was that of charitable trust.
District health boards are subject to the Act.
