OPINION: More than 40,000 New Zealanders are about
to have access to six new medicines, including a much talked about
treatment for advanced melanoma, and a major advancement in the
treatment of hepatitis C.
At their price on the open market, these treatments would have cost New Zealand over $180 million, about 20 per cent of the medicines budget and well in excess of the $39 million of new money the Government has provided.
Fortunately, we haven't had to pay that much.
Through negotiations with suppliers, we've been able to reduce the
required funding by over $100 million every year – an amount that is
more than we spend each year on antibiotics, heart, diabetes and pain
medications combined.
This funding package is obviously great news for people who are set to receive these treatments, some of whom are very ill.
In particular, the hepatitis C treatments will cure nearly all eligible patients, allowing them to get back to doing the things they love. This is also great news for the health system.
The funding of hepatitis C treatments is set to save DHBs significant money in the long term. People won't need continued clinic visits, monitoring or transplants.
This money can be reprioritised to other areas within DHBs and within the health system as a whole. While the savings for some parts of the health system are significant, we know there are flow on impacts from our decisions.
Understanding these impacts is one of the key benefits of our consultation process.
Without the thoughtful and considered feedback we get from other parties, both within and outside the health system, we wouldn't be able to make the high quality decisions New Zealanders expect.
We received a lot of feedback around the treatments for hepatitis C. A
number of people said that, although they strongly supported use of
these treatments in the community, the proposals would result in one of
the biggest changes for primary care services in a number of years.
We've listened and, as a result, made important changes to how the access to funding for these medicines will be rolled out. From July 1, specialists (an infectious diseases specialist, a gastroenterologist or a hepatologist) will be able to prescribe for these treatments, fully funded, for their patients.
From October 1, this will be extended to any prescriber, including GPs. It is important to emphasise that, even though funding will be restricted to certain prescribers until October 1, those patients that need treatment before then can access funded treatment via a specialist.
We recognise specialists will be busy meeting the needs of as many patients as they practically can from July 1. During the three-month period to October 1, we will work closely with the Ministry of Health, hepatitis specialists and the medicine suppliers to create the materials and systems that people have suggested are needed to support primary care.
During the consultation process, we also heard some people argue for funding medicines straight away, before the consultation period ended. This issue arises for each and every one of our funding decisions and we completely understand the desire.
The process, however, exists for good reason. There is a balance between providing funded access early so people can get the benefit, and ensuring that all the issues can be raised, considered and, where appropriate, changes made to make sure our decisions are implemented fairly and safely.
At their price on the open market, these treatments would have cost New Zealand over $180 million, about 20 per cent of the medicines budget and well in excess of the $39 million of new money the Government has provided.
Fortunately, we haven't had to pay that much.
Pharmac has new funding for a drug that combats hepatitis C.
This funding package is obviously great news for people who are set to receive these treatments, some of whom are very ill.
In particular, the hepatitis C treatments will cure nearly all eligible patients, allowing them to get back to doing the things they love. This is also great news for the health system.
The funding of hepatitis C treatments is set to save DHBs significant money in the long term. People won't need continued clinic visits, monitoring or transplants.
This money can be reprioritised to other areas within DHBs and within the health system as a whole. While the savings for some parts of the health system are significant, we know there are flow on impacts from our decisions.
Understanding these impacts is one of the key benefits of our consultation process.
Without the thoughtful and considered feedback we get from other parties, both within and outside the health system, we wouldn't be able to make the high quality decisions New Zealanders expect.
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We've listened and, as a result, made important changes to how the access to funding for these medicines will be rolled out. From July 1, specialists (an infectious diseases specialist, a gastroenterologist or a hepatologist) will be able to prescribe for these treatments, fully funded, for their patients.
From October 1, this will be extended to any prescriber, including GPs. It is important to emphasise that, even though funding will be restricted to certain prescribers until October 1, those patients that need treatment before then can access funded treatment via a specialist.
We recognise specialists will be busy meeting the needs of as many patients as they practically can from July 1. During the three-month period to October 1, we will work closely with the Ministry of Health, hepatitis specialists and the medicine suppliers to create the materials and systems that people have suggested are needed to support primary care.
During the consultation process, we also heard some people argue for funding medicines straight away, before the consultation period ended. This issue arises for each and every one of our funding decisions and we completely understand the desire.
The process, however, exists for good reason. There is a balance between providing funded access early so people can get the benefit, and ensuring that all the issues can be raised, considered and, where appropriate, changes made to make sure our decisions are implemented fairly and safely.
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