Report suggests CPA review
November 25, 2013
The government’s Productivity
Commission has released a new
report into the impact of Australia’s
ageing population, which suggests
a range of measures including
“examination of the direct costs...
of the Community Pharmacy
Agreements” as a way of improving
the overall cost effectiveness of the
health sector.
An Ageing Australia: Preparing
for the Future models a range of
economic factors, including the
cost of the PBS and other health
spending through to 2059-60.
Health costs are projected to be
the main source of pressure on
government budgets over the next
fifty years, and the report makes
a number of suggestions about
what could be changed to keep the
system sustainable.
As well as looking at the
Community Pharmacy Agreements,
other measures to improve cost
effectiveness could include “the
choice of pharmaceuticals listed
under the Pharmaceutical Benefits
Scheme, the manner in which the
Australian Government determines
their price, and the timing of the
entry of generic versions of offpatent
medicines”.
“There may also be merit in the
wider use of prescribing protocols,
based on principles of clinical
and cost effectiveness, for certain
conditions,” the report says.
Previous reports have projected
PBS expenditure by looking at
demographic growth and potential
cost cuts due to the reduction in
drug prices as patents expiry.
“More recent data show that
while prices have fallen for some
drugs, the volume of prescriptions
has more than made up for that
decrease,” the report says.
Medicines Australia says the
report has “missed the point”
about the sustainability of the
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
MA ceo Brendan Shaw said it
focuses only on cost projections,
without much consideration of the
benefits of spending on medicines,
and it also fails to project the cost
of the PBS as a share of GDP.
“The key issue for the PBS
going forward is not its financial
sustainability but whether it can
function effectively as a health
program for the ageing population
by delivering new medicines to
patients in the future,” he said.
CLICK HERE to view the report.
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