NPS saves millions on PBS
April 11, 2016
CLAIMING significant impact on
PBS costs, diagnostic cost savings,
a 2.4 to1 return on investment and
successful safe-use-of-medicines
programs, NPS MedicineWise has
released its Annual Evaluation
Report 2014-2015.
PBS savings reported in 2015
based on the 2013-14 financial
year, totalled $69.24 million, the
report said.
The quality use of diagnostic
programs delivered $11.6 million in
savings from reduced expenditure
on CT scans for the period Jul 2013
to Feb 2015, and $21.45 million in
savings for reduced expenditure on
vitamin D tests for the period Nov
2013 to Oct 2014.
A cost benefit analysis found that
for every $1 invested in the NPS
MedicineWise program ‘Balancing
benefits and harms of antipsychotic
therapy’, $2.40 in benefits was
generated.
This included 177 averted strokes
and a 7.3% reduction in modelled
PBS prescription volume for
those aged over 70 years with an
estimated saving of over $4 million
as well as over $2 million in savings
for state hospitals.
A GP-based program titled
‘Promoting safe use of medicines
in older people’ showed that
participating GPs were more
knowledgable than their non participating
colleagues, although
only 2,000 GPs were engaged.
Studies evaluating the impact
of the NPS MedicineWise
hypertension management
program on medication use showed
that doctors were influenced
positively with respect to guideline
adherence.
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