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How does the operation of PHARMAC's 'Community Exceptional ...

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The review was initiated following <strong>the</strong> recommendations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Report <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

High-Cost, Highly Specialised Medicines Review Panel commissioned by <strong>the</strong><br />

Minister <strong>of</strong> Health in 2009. PHARMAC stated that <strong>the</strong> Review <strong>of</strong> PHARMAC’s<br />

<strong>Exceptional</strong> Circumstances Policy was an opportunity to measure its<br />

implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Medicines New Zealand Strategy document <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Ministry <strong>of</strong> Health and <strong>the</strong> accompanying action plan Actioning Medicines New<br />

Zealand. The strategy states that <strong>the</strong> government aims to take “account <strong>of</strong> and<br />

balanced against o<strong>the</strong>r health priorities, <strong>the</strong> medicines system is required to be<br />

responsive to individual variation, within a population focus” (Ministry <strong>of</strong> Health,<br />

2006).<br />

PHARMAC sought a broad range <strong>of</strong> feedback for industry and community<br />

stakeholders on <strong>the</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> providing <strong>Exceptional</strong> Circumstances funding, a<br />

description <strong>of</strong> what constitutes exceptional and <strong>the</strong> preferred <strong>operation</strong>al<br />

arrangements for <strong>the</strong> administration <strong>of</strong> funding under <strong>the</strong> <strong>Exceptional</strong><br />

Circumstances policy.<br />

In January 2011 PHARMAC published a document named <strong>the</strong> Review <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>Exceptional</strong> Circumstances; Consultation on Proposed Changes. In this<br />

document, PHARMAC outlined <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> feedback it had received in <strong>the</strong><br />

review and <strong>the</strong> proposed changes to <strong>the</strong> existing <strong>Exceptional</strong> Circumstances<br />

policy. PHARMAC is seeking more feedback on <strong>the</strong>se proposed changes and<br />

intends to have final Board recommendations available by late 2011.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> consultation document PHARMAC proposed to abandon <strong>the</strong> current<br />

<strong>Exceptional</strong> Circumstances schemes (Hospital <strong>Exceptional</strong> Circumstances,<br />

Cancer <strong>Exceptional</strong> Circumstances and Community <strong>Exceptional</strong><br />

Circumstances) and replace <strong>the</strong>m with one new policy: Named Patient<br />

Pharmaceutical Assessment (NPPA). This scheme would have three<br />

pathways:<br />

1. Unique Clinical Circumstances (UCC)<br />

2. Urgent Assessment (UA)<br />

3. Hospital Pharmaceuticals in <strong>the</strong> Community (HPC)<br />

The UCC scheme is proposed to provide for individuals with serious and unique<br />

clinical conditions. These patients would not be part <strong>of</strong> a similar group in that<br />

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