Drug utilization data from the Health Insurance Commission (HIC) (Australian Statistics in Medicine 2005): the NPS currently
has seven financial years of data from HIC for the period July 1996 to June 2003. This contains data from both the Pharmaceutical
Benefit Scheme (PBS) and the Medicare Benefit Scheme (MBS). PBS data include all prescriptions dispensed nationally,
for which the Commonwealth Government pays a subsidy. These data provide the total number of (subsidized)
prescriptions dispensed (both original and repeats) with a breakdown by patient entitlement levels. MBS statistics are based
on the items (e.g. standard GP consultation) and groups (e.g. professional attendances, pathology services) in the Medicare
Benefits Schedule. These statistics are reported by patient gender and age group and by scrambled provider number.
Drug utilisation data from the Drug Utilization Sub-Committee: to overcome the omission of ‘under copayment’ data (relating
to scripts for which no government subsidy is paid) within the HIC data set, an ongoing survey of a representative sample
of community pharmacies is undertaken annually by the Pharmacy Guild for the Drug Utilisation Sub-Committee (DUSC):
a subcommittee of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). These data provide an overall estimate of
community prescription drug usage in Australia.