Pharmacy Daily | The real cost of the PBS

THE Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme spent $9,193.7 million on accrual accounting basis for the year ending 30 June 2012, up 3.6% on the previous year’s tally of $8,872.7 million. The results, posted on the PBS website, also showed that total PBS prescription volumes increased by 3.6% to a total of 194.9 million, compared to 188.1 million for the previous year. Meanwhile, Government expenditure amounted to 83.4% of the total cost of PBS prescriptions, with the remainder coming from patient contributions that amounted to $1,505.1 million, up from $1,423.8 million in the previous twelve-month period. Looking at the breakdown, the majority of government expenditure on PBS prescriptions was directed towards concessional cardholders ($5,866.3 million, 77.8% of the total), as compared to concessional expenditure of $5,698.4 million in the previous period (77.7% of the total). The average dispensed price per prescription of PBS medicines decreased to $46.42 for the year ending June 2012 ($46.57 for the year ending June 2011), whilst the average government cost of these scripts was $38.70 for the same period ($39.00 to June 2011). Topping the list as the three highest cost drugs for the Government were Atorvastatin ($593.3 million), Rosuvastatin ($359.2 million) and Ranibizumab ($307.8 million), whilst the PBS drugs most frequently dispensed were Atorvastatin, followed by Rosuvastatin and Esomeprazole Magnesium Trihydrate.

---

The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 14 Feb 13
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 14 Feb 13