The General Practitioners Aotearoa sector group made the warning in a briefing to the incoming minister Simeon Brown.
"General practice as we know it is about to cross a tipping point," the five-member GPA board wrote to Brown.
It estimated the country was 1000 doctors short.
"To avoid an inevitable collapse of our public health system once this point is crossed, it wants to urgently meet with government" to find a solution.
The shortage of family doctors was dire, the funding model was broken and huge investment was needed, it said in the short briefing.
"GPs have become so underfunded, under-resourced, under-valued, and overworked, the crisis case is no longer sustainable," the two-year-old group said.
Rural doctors in particular were struggling, with all the conversation instead focused on cities, towns and hospitals.
"The rural GP network is at best fragile, held together with locums and Telehealth."
Primary care was far more effective than hospital care but the most neglected, so it made sense for the budget to fund it better.
"Recent health and budget policies have been hospital-centric. This is a false economy," the briefing said.
Earlier, a Victoria University study found over a third of GPs were not enrolling new patients.
In an interview with RNZ's political editor this week, Brown said the buck would stop with him on delivering better healthcare for all New Zealanders.
While he was still coming to terms with his new portfolio, early priorities included cutting the wait times in emergency departments and shaking up primary healthcare including getting better access to GPs.
RNZ has approached Brown for comment over the General Practitioners Aotearoa sector group's comments.
