Board chairman Errol Millar said making more use of the private sector seemed a "common-sense proposition", but it was too early to say which areas could benefit.
"I think we would be keen to sit down and see how we could make use of that, but I would like to do that in discussion with clinicians."
The ability to enter into longer-term arrangements would enable the board to negotiate better prices, he said.
Board chief operating officer Vivian Blake said the board was expected to do 6105 elective procedures in the new financial year, but would only be able to do about 5500.
Demand for often complex and urgent surgery and staff shortages have affected the board's ability to do more surgery in the past. Last year the board was about 200 procedures below target because of the month-long norovirus outbreak.
Discussions had started with Dunedin's private Mercy Hospital about its ability to assist, she said.
"We need to think about the barriers put up between public and private."
The board needed to consider contracting services to the private sector and talking about how some private work could be done in the public hospital.
Use of theatre down time in the evenings or on weekends was an option that could be explored.
Health Minister Tony Ryall said in the past, public hospitals had only turned to the private sector as "a last-minute resort" when they realised they were not meeting their surgery targets.
The Otago board paid Mercy Hospital to do 16 joint replacements last year, when it got behind targets for orthopaedic procedures.
Mercy Hospital chief executive Richard Whitney said the hospital had capacity to do more surgery and the private hospital provided services across all disciplines, except neurosurgery.
"The secret is having it planned and over an extended period of time - over two to three years, rather than six months."
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell said the senior doctors' union was not opposed to the new system, but it was "at best" a short-term solution to the problem of lack of capacity in public hospitals.
There was a risk if too much work was contracted out to the private sector, doctors would follow it, either by becoming full-time private specialists or reducing their hours in the public sector.
