Managed Entry Agreements For The Pharmaceuticals: Executive Summary Of PBS In Australia

Discuss about the Managed Entry Agreements For The Pharmaceuticals.

PBS in Australia is a key component in the health systems that are employed in the subsiding of the medicinal arm of the society to the citizens. It was designed to cooperate with the Medicare to help members of the public access the medicines in an easier way and through cost-effective ways. For a considerable period of time, this branch has been performing well in supporting the challenged health wise in their categories. However, with the passage of time, this has not been the pattern. Inconsiderable fluctuations in terms of hiking the prices and the costs of the medicines have been realized which is alarming. This concern has had a negative connotation to the receipts, thus this paper is geared towards touching that aspect in particular. A review of various components related to PBS Mellish et al(2015), its introduction and development in various parts of the world. Also challenges that the scheme has faced. Deductions into Australia and the cost implications that have been realized with the time, Hartung, Bourdette, Ahmed & Whitham  (2015). The cost of multiple sclerosis drugs in the US and the pharmaceutical industry: too big to fail?  Of importance also in the recommendations that in the future which would improve the functioning of the scheme in its operations? The case study of this report is generally in Australia.

Australia as a country is known to be so unique in terms of their medical systems she has established to meet her members’ need.  It is known that as much as possible each citizen has a share of subsidiary benefit in terms of receiving medicines and health care services. PBS and RPBS are the major departments which are concerned with these benefits. The subsidies engulf both the residents and immigrants from other parts of the world who would possess similar accruements to the services.

The government takes the centre stage in the health ministry to ensure that all the citizens have been served. It is estimated that the government curbs the expenses by 75% so that each and every healthcare unit can, in turn, subside the medicinal cost to both patients, Scheme (2014). Australian Government.. These include the discharged and the admitted.it is a policy that has been there for some good period of time. PBS was created to advance the philosophy of the main policy of the government to provide all the necessary and affordable medical attention to the members of the public for the maximum benefit of the nation, Duckett   (2004) . Therapeutic Goods Authority body is sanctioned with the powers to access, verify and accommodate any new drug that finds its entry into the country. Once it is verified, it is registered and PBS henceforth enlists it for dispersion and use by the public through the mainstream hospitals. The following sections discuss the theoretical work that has been conducted in various parts to ascertain the operations of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Analysis

The PBS introduced by the year 2002, was desired to help those patients who have had regular complications to get medical services easily.  The system is structured in that the members subscribe with a certain amount of money that enables them to get the support they need in the time of critical health challenges, Anighoro,  Bajorath & Rastelli  2014). Those with more severe and chronic complications are needed to pay higher because of the conditions that fluctuate.

An element in this system known as co-payment is mandatory for those who are subscribers for continued service by the scheme. In Australia, this aspect over some years was witnessed to have been increased which has affected very many people who cannot afford.  As a result of that, the awareness of the people in this service is curtailed and are disappointed since they cannot attain the estimates. Those who are major affected are the chronic patients who appear mostly to be humble in terms of finances.

The condition of the charges increasing especially on the consumers has really been found to be horny in the latest periods. When the burden of the costs weighs more heavily on the sick, poor citizens it challenges them to still venture in the direction of the consultation. Therefore, they tend to withdraw themselves and use other more affordable means instead. This case was realized in Australia as well as in other parts of the world. If the members stop accessing medicines because of the cost implications of the co-payments and that it is only those who can afford will be served, would tend to create an unbalanced state of society detrimental and chaotic, Vitry, & Roughead (2014). There should be a shift in this mindset in this respect.

 Fig 1. The expenditure graphical representation

That being the case at hand, there must be some radical measures to be undertaken to ensure equity for all members to be served, Thai et al (2016). Those must take place in the very heart of the policy of the PBS to create avenues to cater for each category especially, Morgan et al (2012). Below are some of the recommendations that could help the entire health system If they could be looked into and implemented.

Fig 2. Comparative data manifesting the expenditure on drugs in Australia

For there to be a decided change in this very crucial organ of the society, one or more adjustments must be factored in to help curb the challenges. From the discussion of this report, PBS has been doing well in Australia and many citizens have really benefited from the service it has rendered. The author of this paper's conviction is that if some modifications can be done in the policies much better can be realized at the end of it all. These are the recommendation that the scheme can adapt to fit itself in the current demand for the sake of efficient working.

Recommendations

The very first option that could be readily sold to this scheme is to look into the co-payment aspect of the scheme, in the past history has had devastating implications especially on the cost of some drugs which in the long affected the access by the patients and the doctors. When this branch is still higher than what the normal patient can afford, it poses a challenge to get the services needed. It is, therefore, a recommendation by the author that, if the copayment strategies are restructured the drugs would retain their average and normal prices hence help the efficient cooperation between the doctors and the patients. As a matter of fact, when the favorable prices are maintained getting to other cheaper medicines becomes the option and this improves the efficiency of the scheme, Shit & Shah (2014).

Secondary, another point that could be suggested to PBS in view of improving service delivery and cost-effectiveness is hedged on the management of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. There are very many stories concerning the politics that have been accompanying the institution. This being still looming has had serious impacts on the operations of the listing and delisting of drugs, introduction of new varieties and the prices thereof, Blanch,  Pearson & Haber  (2014) . It is henceforth, highly recommended that a separate body is created that works in close supervision with the PBS to build up its capacity and polarize the political temperatures so that normalcy resumes, Page, Kemp-Casey,  Korda,  & Banks (2015).

 There should be increased awareness among the citizens on how they can prevent diseases through their general lifestyle behaviors. Those who are already sick should be advised on how to get diseases where and how to use them to heal. General education of members in all forums should be adopted and used to ensure reduction of the sick cases, Hassali et al  (2014). There should be clear entitlement information on the categories each group is supposed to get to avoid clashes here and there.

Conclusion

Generally speaking, the major role of the PBS as enumerated in the work is to help people get medicines in a more affordable manner and avoid unnecessary medicines that may not meet their conditions. Worth noting is that there is so much ignorance to the community about the services that are provided by the PBS in conjunction with RPBS hence they have not appreciated their benefits, Pearson et al (2015). Creating environments that will enable the society to really understand the gist of what takes place therein would help improve the services of the scheme.  The author notes that the conventional drugs have had their part in curbing the illness and maladies of the people but it is not enough, if practitioners would also educate people how to naturally take of themselves it would yield more fruits.  As time grows and the population increases in the nation, a greater challenge presents itself in meeting the demands of the time. As proposed, the capping of the PBS budget should be enacted in order to suffice the want of the period.  Finally, the principles of the PBS need to be well outlined to the community so that each may fully comprehend where he or she can access medicines at his or her affordable prices and this could be a rich culture at the end of it all.

References

Duckett, S. J. (2004). Drug policy down under: Australia's pharmaceutical benefits scheme. Health care financing review, 25(3), 55.

Morgan, T. K., Williamson, M., Pirotta, M., Stewart, K., Myers, S. P., & Barnes, J. (2012). A national census of medicines use: a 24-hour snapshot of Australians aged 50 years and older. Med J Aust, 196(1), 50-3.

Thai, P. K., Lai, F. Y., Edirisinghe, M., Hall, W., Bruno, R., O'Brien, J. W., ... & Mueller, J. F. (2016). Monitoring temporal changes in use of two cathinones in a large urban catchment in Queensland, Australia. Science of the Total Environment, 545, 250-255.

Mellish, L., Karanges, E. A., Litchfield, M. J., Schaffer, A. L., Blanch, B., Daniels, B. J., ... & Pearson, S. A. (2015). The Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data collection: a practical guide for researchers. BMC research notes, 8(1), 634.

Vitry, A., & Roughead, E. (2014). Managed entry agreements for pharmaceuticals in Australia. Health Policy, 117(3), 345-352.

Scheme, P. B. (2014). Australian Government.

Page, E., Kemp-Casey, A., Korda, R., & Banks, E. (2015). Using Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data for pharmacoepidemiological research: challenges and approaches. Public Health Res Pract, 25(4), e2541546.

Blanch, B., Pearson, S. A., & Haber, P. S. (2014). An overview of the patterns of prescription opioid use, costs and related harms in A ustralia. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 78(5), 1159-1166.

Hassali, M. A., Alrasheedy, A. A., McLachlan, A., Nguyen, T. A., Al-Tamimi, S. K., Ibrahim, M. I. M., & Aljadhey, H. (2014). The experiences of implementing generic medicine policy in eight countries: a review and recommendations for a successful promotion of generic medicine use. Saudi pharmaceutical journal, 22(6), 491-503.

Shit, S. C., & Shah, P. M. (2014). Edible polymers: challenges and opportunities. Journal of Polymers, 2014.

Anighoro, A., Bajorath, J., & Rastelli, G. (2014). Polypharmacology: challenges and opportunities in drug discovery: miniperspective. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 57(19), 7874-7887.

Hartung, D. M., Bourdette, D. N., Ahmed, S. M., & Whitham, R. H. (2015). The cost of multiple sclerosis drugs in the US and the pharmaceutical industry: too big to fail?. Neurology, 84(21), 2185-2192.

Pearson, S. A., Pesa, N., Langton, J. M., Drew, A., Faedo, M., & Robertson, J. (2015). Studies using Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data for pharmacoepidemiological research: a systematic review of the published literature (1987–2013). Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 24(5), 447-455.