Economic Evaluation: The Case of the Australian PBS

Abstract

One of the important areas of economic evaluation of health programs is in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). As part of total healthcare spending, pharmaceutical expenditure attracts the attention of government regulators, the public or private fund holders because absolute expenditure continues to grow; pharmaceuticals are perceived more as products than as services; and there is a growing concern that new biotechnology and biogenomic products will push pharmaceutical expenditure to an unprecedented level. All countries are faced with the dilemma of an increasing-demand for healthcare to be financed by finite or even diminishing resources (Bootman et al. 1996). Economic evaluation becomes an integral part of the applications of pharmaceutical companies to governments of different countries worldwide for subsidies.