Some of the best reforms are not necessarily the grandest or most expensive.
Sometimes, improving a public service simply means identifying an unnecessary obstacle which people have grown accustomed to navigating, and removing it.
The decision to give private family medicine specialists access to a wider range of state-provided clinical tests from 1 September is one such measure.
Family doctors will be able to request an extended range of blood tests and ultrasound examinations for patients under their care, with referrals and results handled electronically through myHealth.
It is the first time since 2007 that access to public investigations has been extended to specialists working in the private sector.
There is a simple logic behind the change. A patient who chooses to visit a private family doctor should not have to be referred back into the public system, or pay to see another private specialist, merely to obtain an investigation which the State already provides and which their doctor has determined is necessary.
Those additional steps cost patients time and, potentially, money, while also creating appointments and referrals which could have been avoided.
Removing them makes the patient's journey through the healthcare system simpler, while giving family doctors greater scope to investigate, diagnose and follow up on those entrusted to their care.
This is also about recognising what primary healthcare should be.
Family doctors should not simply serve as a gateway through which patients are routinely passed towards hospitals and specialists.
Where conditions can appropriately be investigated and managed within the community, doctors should have the tools necessary to do so.
There is another welcome principle in the reform: the distinction between public and private healthcare should not become an administrative barrier for patients.
A person may choose to consult a private family doctor while still being entitled to healthcare services provided by the State.
The system should work around that reality rather than require patients to navigate different routes because their doctor happens to practise outside the public sector.
The range being introduced is significant, covering investigations related to vitamin and mineral levels, digestive health, infections and inflammation, heart failure and early kidney damage, among others, together with several types of ultrasound scans.
The government has also wisely chosen to introduce the reform in phases, with the first stage to be assessed before further measures are considered.
Expanding access inevitably means increasing demand, and a reform intended to make healthcare more efficient should not come at the expense of longer waiting lists for patients already awaiting tests.
The Health Ministry says the expansion is being matched to laboratory and imaging capacity, while investment is also underway to increase that capacity.
Implementation will therefore determine how successful the reform ultimately becomes. Waiting times must be monitored, the electronic referral system must work smoothly, and capacity must keep pace if access is widened further.
The principle is undoubtedly a positive one, as healthcare works best when patients can receive the right care at the right level, without being sent through unnecessary hoops simply because that is how the system has traditionally operated.
If qualified family doctors can safely manage more of their patients' healthcare within the community, they should be empowered to do so.
Removing needless barriers is not only more convenient for patients; it can make the entire health service work better.