Australia’s National Medicines Policy

Post on 02-Feb-2016

42 views 0 download

Tags:

description

Australia’s National Medicines Policy. Libby Roughead University of South Australia. Health expenditure as a proportion of GDP. Per capita health expenditure 2001. Healthy life expectancy at birth: 2002. Pharmaceutical expenditure as a proportion of health expenditure. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

transcript

Australia’s National Medicines Policy

Libby RougheadUniversity of South Australia

Health expenditure as a proportion of GDP

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

%

Australia USA

Per capita health expenditure 2001

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

$Aus

Australia USA

Healthy life expectancy at birth: 2002

65

67

69

71

73

75

Australia USA

Pharmaceutical expenditure as a proportion of health

expenditure

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

%

Australia USA

Costs of providing medicines are increasing

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

$ bi

llio

n

82/83 91-92 94/95 98/99 00/01 02/03

Medicines are consuming a larger part of the health budget

Other health

expenditure

91%

Pharmaceuticals

9%

Other health expenditure

85%

Pharmaceuticals15%

1984-85 2002/03

Australia’s National Medicines Policy

• Endorsed by parliament in 2000

Goal:• To meet medication

and related service needs, so that both optimal health outcomes and economic objectives are achieved

http://www.health.gov.au/haf/nmp/objectives/policy.htm

Equitable access to necessary

medicines

Medicines of high quality safety

and efficacy

Quality use of medicines

A viable & responsible local pharmaceutical

industry

Medicines meeting appropriate standards of quality, safety and efficacy

• Achieved via the Therapeutic Goods Administration (est 1958)

• Approves for marketing– Prescription medicines– Over-the-counter medicines– Complementary therapies

• Current policy development, harmonisation of regulatory arrangements with New Zealand

Maintaining a responsible and viable pharmaceutical industry• Australia has had an industry development

program since 1988• In 2004, Pharmaceuticals Partnerships

Program (P3) was launched • Provides $150 million over the five years to

support R&D in Australia• Pharmaceuticals are Australia’s third largest

manufactured export after automobiles and wine

Timely access to the medicines that Australians need, at a cost the

individual and the community can afford

• Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme– Universal access to necessary medicines– Initiated in 1950, with 139 life saving and

disease preventing medications available free

– Today, 593 drugs (1451 forms, 2558 products)

– Restrictions apply to 778 of the items, 288 of which require prior authorisation

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

• Accounts for over 90% of all community medicine use in Australia

• Consumers pay a proportion of total costs

– $4.60 for concession card holders – $28.60 for general beneficiaries– Safety net system

• Maximum concession card holders annual costs $239.20, then supplied free.

• Maximum costs of $874.90 per annum for general beneficiaries

Assessment of medicines for subsidy

• Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC)– Statutory committee established under

the National Health Act– Health minister cannot list a medicine

under the scheme without a positive recommendation from the PBAC

Assessment of medicines for subsidy

In assessing medicines for listing, the committee is required by legislation to consider:

• Comparative efficacy• Comparative safety• Cost-effectiveness

– Cost-minimisation assessment or cost-effectiveness assessment

• Cost-effectiveness has been mandatory since 1993

USA-Australian Free Trade Agreement

Current policy developments due to the agreement• An independent review process of PBAC decisions

– where the PBAC decided not to list a medicine– PBAC is still the final arbiter of the decision

• Hearings before the PBAC; limited in scope & to specific issues

• Improved transparency of PBAC decisions with publication of public summary documents; previously all material was commercial in confidence

Quality Use of Medicines

• National Strategy for Quality Use of Medicines

• Established 1992• In response to

strong consumer lobby

http://www.health.gov.au/haf/nmp/quality.htm

The Original Vision for QUM (1992)

National Facilitation & Co-ordination

Objective Information

Education & Training

Consumer Services

Provider Services

Campaigns

Australian National Formulary

National Therapeutic Guidelines

Australian Prescriber

Consumer Medicines Information

Consumer education for self-reliance

School kits & adult learning

Core curricula for providers

Ethical promotion

Undergraduate, postgraduate & continuing ed’n

Multidisciplinary team approach

Awareness Motivation Confidence

Medication records

Compliance aids

Disposal of unwanted medicines

Stimulate teamwork

Academic detailing

Models of practice

Audit & feedback

Critical appraisal of promotion

General awareness

Elderly

Asthma

Analgesics

Out-of-date medication

Targeted Grants for Further Development

Medication review

The Original Vision for QUM (1992)

National Facilitation & Co-ordination

Objective Information

Education & Training

Consumer Services

Provider Services

Campaigns

Australian National Formulary

National Therapeutic Guidelines

Australian Prescriber

Consumer Medicines Information

Consumer education for self-reliance

School kits & adult learning

Core curricula for providers

Ethical promotion

Undergraduate, postgraduate & continuing ed’n

Multidisciplinary team approach

Awareness Motivation Confidence

Medication records

Compliance aids

Disposal of unwanted medicines

Stimulate teamwork

Academic detailing

Models of practice

Audit & feedback

Critical appraisal of promotion

General awareness

Elderly

Asthma

Analgesics

Out-of-date medication

Targeted Grants for Further Development

Medication review

QUM services and resources (2005)

National Facilitation & Co-ordination

Objective Information

Education & Training

Consumer Services

Provider Services

Campaigns

Australian National Formulary

National Therapeutic Guidelines

Australian Prescriber

Consumer Medicines Information

Consumer education for self-reliance

School kits & adult learning

Core curricula for providers

Ethical promotion

Undergraduate, postgraduate & continuing ed’n

Multidisciplinary team approach

Awareness Motivation Confidence

E-medication record developing

Compliance aids

Disposal of unwanted medicines

Stimulate teamwork

Academic detailing

Models of practice

Audit & feedback

Critical appraisal of promotion

General awareness

Elderly

Antibiotics

Analgesics

Out-of-date medication

Targeted Grants for Further Development

Medication review

Ensuring quality use of medicines

• Over $100 million committed over next four years

The challenge

• Is the policy framework holding the tensions?

Cost-effectiveness assessments and impact on

pricing• Costs of selected new medicines:

Australia and USA• Etanercept

– Aus PBS price 4x25mg = $US 734; – US FSS price $US 360 DrugStore.com

$US600• Imatinib 400mg 30

– Aus PBS price $US 2934; – US FSS price $US 2413 DrugStore.com

$US2440

Cost-effectiveness assessments and impact on pricing

Cost-effectiveness assessments and impact on uptake of new molecular

entities

Conclusions

• Australia’s national medicines policy aims to hold the tensions between the major objectives of the policy at the macro and micro levels– Macro level tensions, such as industry

development versus access and affordability– Tensions also need to be acknowledged and

held at the local level • eg hospital needs versus community needs

pharmacy needs versus medicines needsconsumer needs versus health professional needs

Conclusions

• Lack of comprehensive linked data sets in Australia limit conclusions, about how well the Australian framework balances the competing tensions.

• However, currently the policy appears to be meeting its major objectives as measured by the national indicators. The real test will be if the policy framework achieves these objectives in 2020