Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Medicine Consumption

HEALTH FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 1
Health Financial Management
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HEALTH FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 2
The Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the consumption of medicines in Australia
Executive Summary
` There is a specific list of drug which the Pharmaceutical benefits Scheme subsidies. Such
drugs are listed based on the advice given by the expert committees that is the Pharmaceutical
Benefits Advisory Committee. Australia has become one of the leading nations in the world
which require that all the medicines are effective and cost-effective before being listed. There
has therefore been an increase in the expenditure towards the scheme, however, there a variety of
programs which have been developed to help raise funds towards the scheme. This report focus
on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in Australia including the medicines listed in the scheme
including the financial implications in the health sector and this is as discussed below.

HEALTH FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 3
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Medicines Subsidised Under the PBS.............................................................................................4
Medicines Under Special Arrangements......................................................................................4
Veteran’s Medicine......................................................................................................................5
General Medicines.......................................................................................................................5
Statistics on Drug Consumption in Australia..................................................................................5
Medicine Consumption Trends in Australia....................................................................................5
Prescription Numbers by ATC Groups........................................................................................6
Drugs under Co-Payment Prescriptions...................................................................................6
Subsidised Prescriptions...........................................................................................................6
Number of Prescriptions by type of Service................................................................................7
Drugs by Prescription Counts......................................................................................................8
Subsidised Drugs in 2015............................................................................................................8
Financial Implications of PBS.........................................................................................................9
Financial Implications for Consumer Contribution.......................................................................11
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

HEALTH FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 4
Introduction
The Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme forms one among the national policy
medicinal drug policy in Australia. The scheme typically offers access to various medicines for
the citizens of Australia. This policy aims at ensuring that there is the quality use of a variety of
medicines and it is done by a body known as the Pharmaceutical Health And the Rational use of
Medicine Committee. It also helps to ensure that the medicinal products are safe and of quality, a
fundamental role played by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. The scheme began in the
1950s, and during those days, it supplied 140 infection prevention and lifesaving drugs. However
it has grown over the years, and it currently offers subsidies for curing some of the medicinal
conditions among various individuals (Hollingworth, Chan, Pham, Shi & Ford, 2017). The
primary aim for the established of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme was to help
meet some of the prescriptions and need of the society as was stipulated by the medical
practitioners. Apart from the patients in public hospitals receiving the PBS, those in the private
hospitals also have access to the scheme. The states, territories, and commonwealth are
responsible for the provision of the drugs in the public hospitals through funding based on the
Medicare agreement. Additionally, there are certain high-cost drugs whose supplies are from the
hospitals to the outpatients and such are funded by the Commonwealth
Medicines Subsidised Under the PBS
The medicines subsidized under the PBS include;