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During evaluation of the third Community Pharmacy Agreement (2000-2005), gaps in the pharmacy network that didn’t meet the ‘reasonable access to PBS medicines regardless of place of residence’ (National Medicines Policy) test were recognised. At the same time, the Federal Government was also concerned about long term PBS growth and identified pharmacy distribution as a […]
An article published today and available free in The Medical Journal of Australia by Louise Gordon of QIMR provides an insight into another aspect of the Australian healthcare system in addition to the controversial issue of out-of-pocket medical costs. The findings are based on 452 cancer patients diagnosed from Nov 2010- Nov 2011 identified via […]
Community Pharmacy Agreements (CPAs) take the form of 5-year ‘contracts’ between the Commonwealth Government and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. These determine the remuneration paid to pharmacists for dispensing pharmaceutical benefits and to perform other functions required under that agreement. An interesting nuance is that the agreements also include wholesaler compensation. Why wouldn’t the National Pharmaceutical Services […]
Today’s Budget Estimates 2018-19 Public Hearing of the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee on Outcome 4.3 Pharmaceutical Benefits (11.15 am – 1.15 pm) provided a few more details about the new pricing arrangements that are to be piloted from 1 July 2019. The Department of Health is currently in discussion with a number of companies […]
The supply chain for Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines has come sharply into focus during the changes to rebate arrangements recently pursued by the Federal Government, and whose introduction has subsequently been delayed until July 2019. Supply chain refers to the specialised pharmaceutical wholesalers and pharmacies (community and hospital) that provide distribution, dispensing and patient care […]
Monitoring reports for two of Australia’s government-funded, population-based national cancer screening programs were recently released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The report on the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) for women aged 20-69, measured incidence and mortality at 9–10 new cases, and 2 deaths, per 100,000 women, respectively. These rates have […]
Update The final report of the Productivity Commission inquiry into Data Availability and Use has been released. One of the Government’s responses is to create an Office of the National Data Commissioner, whose role is designed to implement an efficient data sharing framework within government. Background Back on 1 August 2016, the Department of Health […]
Have you seen the National Cancer Control Indicators (NCCI) website? It is Australia’s first single location of cancer data. An initiative of Cancer Australia, the national cancer control agency, this data resource launched last November. The framework above shows the sources and type of data collected. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Australian Institute of Health and […]
The status of out-of-pocket (OOP) costs paid by Australian patients for healthcare continues to be an enigma. On one hand, regular media releases, reports & inquiries suggest it is an issue; while on the other, Australian Institute of Health & Welfare figures support a conclusion of limited growth in this component of healthcare spend, although […]
Will the real price be revealed? As described in Part 1, the Australian Federal Government wants to eliminate an existing process whereby certain PBS medicines are reimbursed through the supply chain at ‘published (list) prices’, even though a lower price, known as the ‘effective price’ has been agreed. At a latter date, sponsor companies repay (rebate) […]