Partnership “scores” PBS
August 16, 2011
A ‘PBS SCORECARD’ issued
overnight by the Medicines
Partnership of Australia cites recent
data as demonstrating that
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
growth “remains low and is
trending down”.
The Partnership, which comprises
the Pharmacy Guild, the PSA,
Medicines Australia, the Generic
Medicines Industry Association, the
National Pharmaceutical Services
Association and the Australian Self-
Medication Industry, says the
research “should allay any concerns
the Federal Government may have
about the sustainability of the PBS”.
Based on Medicare data, the
Scorecard tracks the moving annual
total of prescriptions and
government
expenditure,
with a
fascinating
graph (below)
which links the
data to various
policy changes
and economic
events.
The data used
does not
include S100 or
highly specialised drugs used in
public hospitals.
The figures show a 5.2% growth
in PBS spending for the year to 30
Jun, or less than 2% after adjusting
for inflation, which the Partnership
says is sustainable, with price
disclosure and other measures set
to “ensure expenditure remains
well under control”.
The scorecard also analyses 10
year average growth in PBS
spending, which between 2000 and
2010 was “comfortably the lowest
since the 1970s”.
And PBS spending has remained
steady at around 0.6% of GDP
which is below the OECD average of
0.8%, the Partnership added.
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