Posted by Michael Wonder on 18 Dec 2016
PBS expenditure and prescriptions for 2015-16
16 December 2016 - The PBS Expenditure and Prescriptions Report 2015-16 is now available.
Total PBS government expenditure (both Section 85 and Section 100) on an accrual accounting basis for the 2015-2016 financial year was $10,838.0 million, compared with $9,072.1 million for the previous year. This is an increase of 19.5%.
Total PBS prescription volumes decreased by 1.9% to a total of 208.0 million for 2015-16, compared to 212.1 million for the previous year.
Government expenditure amounted to $7,964.9 million which was 85.1% of the total cost of PBS prescriptions. The remainder was patient contributions that amounted to $1,394.2 million, down from $1,465.9 million in the previous twelve-month period.
The majority of government expenditure on PBS prescriptions was directed towards concessional cardholders ($6,044.8 million, 75.9% of the total). This is compared to concessional expenditure of $5,503.9 million in the previous period (77.4% of the total).
The average dispensed price per prescription of PBS medicines increased to $45.00 for 2015-16 ($40.45 for the previous financial year). The average government cost of these scripts was $38.29 for the same period ($33.54 for 2014-15).
