Par14 Evaluation of Access to High-Cost Medicines in Australia Using National Claims Data

Accessing health outcome data on high‐cost medicines in Australia

“…Monthly aggregated prescription volume and expenditure statistics on each PBS item are available in the public domain through Medicare Australia's website (Box 2, B). While these aggregated data provide some indication of the uptake of bDMARDs, 5 the actual number of patients using a bDMARD can only be approximated (eg, a crude approximation was that more than 2000 patients had been commenced on bDMARDs by March 2005) 6 . However, the proportion of patients that was approved to continue these medicines cannot be determined.…”

“…While these aggregated data provide some indication of the uptake of bDMARDs, 5 the actual number of patients using a bDMARD can only be approximated (eg, a crude approximation was that more than 2000 patients had been commenced on bDMARDs by March 2005). 6 However, the proportion of patients that was approved to continue these medicines cannot be determined. It is also not possible to examine the effects of the "interchangeability rule", which allows eligible patients to switch between different bDMARDs -an important initiative under the PBS.…”