EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
NATIONAL HEALTH ACT 1953
NATIONAL HEALTH (EFFICIENT FUNDING OF CHEMOTHERAPY) SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT AMENDMENT INSTRUMENT 2012 (No. 5)
PB 40 of 2012
Authority
Subsection 100(1) of the National Health Act 1953 (the Act) enables the Minister to make special arrangements for the supply of pharmaceutical benefits. Subsection 100(2) of the Act provides that the Minister may vary or revoke a special arrangement made under subsection 100(1).
Subsection 100(3) of the Act provides that Part VII of the Act, and instruments made for the purposes of Part VII have effect subject to a special arrangement made under subsection 100(1).
Purpose
The purpose of this legislative instrument, made under subsections 100(1) and 100(2) of the Act, is to amend the National Health (Efficient Funding of Chemotherapy) Special Arrangement 2011 (PB 79 of 2011) (the Special Arrangement), to make changes to the special arrangement relating to the efficient funding of chemotherapy.
The Special Arrangement achieves greater efficiency in payment for the supply of injected or infused chemotherapy medicines (“chemotherapy pharmaceutical benefits”) to eligible patients being treated for cancer, to reflect the 2010 budget measure titled ‘Revised arrangements for the efficient funding of chemotherapy drugs’. This Special Arrangement also relates to the supply of medicines associated with the side-effects of cancer and cancer treatment (“related pharmaceutical benefits”) at certain public hospitals.
This instrument makes changes to the pharmaceutical benefits available under the section 100 special arrangement for the efficient funding of chemotherapy. These changes reflect changes to the National Health (Listing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Instrument 2010 (the main listing instrument) made under sections 84AF, 85, 85A, 88 and 101 of the Act, which commence on the same day.
This Instrument:
- adds a circumstance for 3 pharmaceutical benefits with the listed drug ‘Docetaxel’;
- adds 5 new listed brands with the listed drugs ‘Irinotecan’ and ‘Ondansetron’; and
- amends the form for the pharmaceutical benefit with the listed drug ‘Bortezomib’;
This instrument also amends the responsible person for responsible person code ‘GZ’ to reflect the correct responsible person for that responsible person code as determined in the main listing instrument, amends the definitions for ‘diluent fee’, ‘dispensing fee’, ‘distribution fee’ and ‘preparation fee’ to reflect the indexation of these fees for 1 July 2012 and adds the responsible person code ‘GM’ and the associated responsible person ‘Ascent Pharma Pty Ltd’ to the Special Arrangement.
Consultations
An ongoing and formal process of consultation in relation to matters relevant to this instrument includes the involvement of interested parties through the membership of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). PBAC is an independent expert body established by section 100A of the Act which makes recommendations to the Minister about which drugs and medicinal preparations should be available as pharmaceutical benefits.
PBAC members are appointed following nomination by prescribed organisations and associations from consumers, health economists, practising community pharmacists, general practitioners, clinical pharmacologists and specialists, with at least one member selected from each of those interests or professions. Remaining members are persons whom the Minister is satisfied have qualifications and experience in a field relevant to the functions of PBAC, and that would enable them to contribute meaningfully to the deliberations of PBAC. When recommending the listing of a medicine on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), PBAC takes into account the medical conditions for which the medicine has been approved for use in Australia, its clinical effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness compared with other treatments.
This Instrument commences on 1 July 2012.
This Instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
A provision by provision description of this Instrument is contained in the Attachment.
ATTACHMENT
PROVISION BY PROVISION DESCRIPTION OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH (EFFICIENT FUNDING OF CHEMOTHERAPY) SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT AMENDMENT INSTRUMENT 2012 (No. 5)
Section 1 Name of Instrument
This section provides that this Instrument is the National Health (Efficient Funding of Chemotherapy) Special Arrangement Amendment Instrument 2012 (No. 5) and that it may also be cited as PB 40 of 2012.
Section 2 Commencement
This section provides that this Instrument commences on 1 July 2012.
Section 3 Amendments to PB 79 of 2011
This section provides that Schedule 1 amends the National Health (Efficient Funding of Chemotherapy) Special Arrangement 2011 (PB 79 of 2011) (the Special Arrangement).
Schedule 1
Item 1 revises the diluent fee to reflect that the fee is $4.83 on and from 1 July 2012.
Item 2 revises the dispensing fee to reflect that the fee is $6.52 on and from 1 July 2012.
Item 3 revises the distribution fee to reflect that the fee is $24.38 on and from 1 July 2012.
Item 4 revises the preparation fee to reflect that the fee is $40.64 on and from 1 July 2012.
Item 5 amends the entry in Schedule 1 Part 1 of the Special Arrangement for the pharmaceutical benefit with the listed drug ‘Bortezomib’ by amending the form to be ‘Powder for Injection 3.5 mg’.
Item 6 amends the entry in Schedule 1 Part 1 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Docetaxel’ in the form ‘Solution concentrate for I.V. infusion 160 mg in 16 mL’ with manner of administration ‘Injection’ and brand ‘DBL Docetaxel Concentrated Injection’ by adding the circumstance code ‘C3892’.
Item 7 amends the entry in Schedule 1 Part 1 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Docetaxel’ in the form ‘Solution concentrate for I.V. infusion 20 mg in 2 mL’ with manner of administration ‘Injection’ and brand ‘DBL Docetaxel Concentrated Injection’ by adding the circumstance code ‘C3892’.
Item 8 amends the entry in Schedule 1 Part 1 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Docetaxel’ in the form ‘Solution concentrate for I.V. infusion 80 mg in 8 mL’ with manner of administration ‘Injection’ and brand ‘DBL Docetaxel Concentrated Injection’ by adding the circumstance code ‘C3892’.
Item 9 amends the entry in Schedule 1 Part 1 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Irinotecan’ by adding a new pharmaceutical benefit, which is the listed drug ‘Irinotecan’ in the form ‘I.V. injection containing irinotecan hydrochloride trihydrate 500 mg in 25 mL’ with manner of administration ‘Injection’ and brand ‘Irinotecan Alphapharm’.
Item 10 amends the entry in Schedule 2 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Ondansetron’ by adding a new pharmaceutical benefit, which is the listed drug ‘Ondansetron’ in the form ‘Tablet 4 mg (as hydrochloride dihydrate)’ with manner of administration ‘Oral’ and brand ‘Zondan’.
Item 11 amends the entry in Schedule 2 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Ondansetron’ by adding a new pharmaceutical benefit, which is the listed drug ‘Ondansetron’ in the form ‘Tablet 8 mg (as hydrochloride dihydrate)’ with manner of administration ‘Oral’ and brand ‘Zondan’.
Item 12 amends the entry in Schedule 2 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Ondansetron’ by adding a new pharmaceutical benefit, which is the listed drug ‘Ondansetron’ in the form ‘Tablet (orally disintegrating) 4 mg’ with manner of administration ‘Oral’ and brand ‘Onsetron ODT 4’.
Item 13 amends the entry in Schedule 2 of the Special Arrangement for ‘Ondansetron’ by adding a new pharmaceutical benefit, which is the listed drug ‘Ondansetron’ in the form ‘Tablet (orally disintegrating) 8 mg’ with manner of administration ‘Oral’ and brand ‘Onsetron ODT 8’.
Item 14 amends Schedule 3 of the Special Arrangement by adding the responsible person code ‘GM’ and associated responsible person ‘Ascent Pharma Pty Ltd’.
Item 15 amends the entry in Schedule 3 of the Special Arrangement for ‘GZ’ by amending the associated responsible person to be ‘sanofi-aventis Australia Pty Ltd’.