The 'Dispatched' Podcast

We are back for 2024 with no end of issues to discuss, starting with the HTA review options paper and the coincidence of many reviews and processes delivering outcomes just ahead of the May Budget.

Looking ahead, the industry needs to find a framework for challenging the government on its decision-making, and awards that recognise the bad, the ugly and the good in 2023.

Timeline

0:00 - 12:00 - Why the industry needs to find a framework for challenging the government in its decision-making.

Awards

12:00 - 17:00 - 'We definitely seriously want to improve transparency and accountability but just not on this Award'
17:00 - 24:45 - 'The most offensive appearance at a parliamentary inquiry Award'
24:45 - 33:10 - 'The it’s all about  patients Award'
33:10 - 36:55 - 'The snatching defeat from the jaws of victory award'
36:55 - 38:33 - 'The own-goal Award'
38:33 - 42:00 - 'The Silence Award'
42:00 - 53:30 - Let’s flip the awards and talk about people who have stood firm on principle and had an impact
53:30 - 57:00 - Finally, what the Government has done well regarding the PBS

More silence on a critical social issue. The report of the NDIS review delivers a range of recommendations, including the adoption of an evidence-based funding framework, but is it practical or even possible? Some interesting comments from NDIS minister Bill Shorten might open the door for advocates of health system reform, a debate that always comes down to a question of health system financing.

We discuss the apparent reluctance to speak out on one important issue. The Government's entirely predictable response to the inquiry on access to new medicines and novel medical technologies, why disappointment is the wrong reaction, and the importance of giving New Zealand's government time to reform Pharmac.

The power of language and the habit governments have of weaponising the word 'sustainable'. How the term has been used to 'gently' justify breaking election commitments and its wider impact on policy development and change.

Some interesting undertones at the Pharmacy Guild's annual parliamentary dinner, a  slow start to 60-day dispensing and whether the plan for a new agreement to be in place by 1 March is realistic. The industry is very effective at advocacy, but not in the way it might think or hope, and the weight loss therapies that have system-shaping implications.

Any nominations for the 'It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time' award? The opportunity to shift the current strategic alignments that impact decision-making, the challenge of diagnosis and why the existing decision-making framework makes it inevitable.

The 'inner circle' running the HTA review and the obsession with confidentiality. An invitation for the government to launch preemptive action to prevent the publication of information that could meet the 'confidentiality' criteria and the least surprising outcome of 2023.

Strange accounting in the health department's annual report with 'adjustments and notional entries required for presentation only' bumping the PBS spend by $1.2 billion. What does it mean? History matters when it comes to policy, with almost nothing happening that the industry did not negotiate, including the time taken to list recommended medicines. This is why the lessons of history are so important for the industry's leaders.

Genomics and this week's CanForum, at which Rare Cancers Australia hosted several interesting discussions, particularly highlighting the patient experience and the federal government's desultory plan for an 'advisory committee'. Should the result of last weekend's referendum trigger a rethink by organisations that actively supported the proposed change?