Mr Chrisp, Otago and Southland district health boards regional general manager of planning and funding, said the report of the review should be known by the middle of next year, but recommendations would take years to implement.
The review is looking at hospital bed numbers, types and locations and what might be needed in the next 20 years.
The possibility of building a significant sized inland hospital to serve the growing Central Otago and Queenstown population has been raised. It is expected the location of any such hospital may be hotly debated.
The hospital trusts have been worried that because the review is due to come out at the same time as their contract renewals it could affect negotiations and budgeting.
At the November meeting of the district health boards' community and public health advisory committee in Invercargill, Dr Branko Sijnja, of Balclutha, after declaring an interest, said there was anxiety among rural hospitals trying to do their own planning and needed to know if their budgets would be the same or reduced.
The hospitals, which covered about 40% of the population, saw the matter with some urgency and needed clarity.
Mr Chrisp said the board had written to the hospitals because all their contracts expired on the same date which caused a bottleneck in negotiations and made meaningful discussions difficult.
His team would like to spread the expiry dates.
As far as the review went, any change of direction would not be immediate and should not put the day-to-day business of the hospitals on hold in any way.
