Pharmac meds cause budget strain
Pharmac’s approval of life-extending drugs is putting significant strain on the Southern District Health Board’s budget, chief executive Chris Fleming said.
Fleming was advocating that Pharmac absorb these costs into its own budget, he told the board at a meeting last week.
While Pharmac carried the cost of the drugs, the board was responsible for monitoring a patient’s reaction to them, he said.
The board’s strategy and planning team were working with business analysts to quantify the extra costs associated with drugs introduced in the past three years; and those due to be approved in the near future.
The group would develop a costing system and a model to help the board engage with Pharmac and the Ministry of Health on future budget requests,
Fleming said.
The drugs in question were typically used for breast cancer treatment.
Pharmac required documentation of ongoing testing to control access to the high-cost medication.
The medication often created additional demand for infusion services, follow-up clinics, nursing and clinician assessments, training and education, and imaging and lab tests in addition to normal clinical care, Fleming said.
‘‘For some reason Southern always seems to be an early adopter – which is good, because it gives patients access, but it also puts the system under pressure,’’ he said.
Fleming said these extra costs weren’t too bad for individual cases, but became problematic when they were necessary for more than two or three patients.
‘‘There have been cases where Pharmac have materially underestimated the national impact or volume of investment at a DHB level. The impact at DHB level is not considered,’’ he said.
Fleming also noted that Pharmac consultations periods were short – three to six months – and out of sync with the board’s budget cycles.