The Common Counting Standards outline how health activity should be defined, measured and counted to support the planning of health and disability services.

The Standards support funding and costing decisions, and they contribute towards a sound platform from which inter-district flow (IDF) pricing can be derived. They provide clear business rules for a consistent approach when using existing purchase units from the Purchase Unit Data Dictionary, and when developing new purchase units.

Version 1.1 has been updated to align with National collection rules (NNPAC and NMDS)

The original standards were developed by the Common Counting Technical Advisory Group, a cross DHB-Ministry group. The Common Counting Standards 2013/14 was updated in Janaury 2017, and replaced in 2021 by version 1.1.