Onerous paperwork could end up costing the NHS millions of pounds in missed reimbursements from patient access schemes (PASs), a report has shown.
Deals to share the costs of expensive treatments with the NHS are now commonplace. But lengthy required procedures often see deadlines and repayments missed.
A study of 31 PCTs in England showed more than 50% of the costs had not been recovered on two of the first four PASs – bortezomib and sunitinib.
The DH insisted it was aiming to make repayments as easy as possible. But study leader Steve Williamson said the complex procedures within the NHS were making the PASs unmanageable.
The consultant pharmacist at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “We’re delighted to have these schemes because they allow patients access to drugs but they have not been executed very well.”
He added that deadlines needed to be more flexible and that the NHS should introduce a basic template for reimbursement instead of individual company paperwork.
“For example with bortezomib, in principle this is a very good scheme because if it doesn’t work you get the money back, but if for some reason you miss making one claim within the timeframe allowed it costs £12,000,” he said.
The report went on to conclude that NHS staff time is spent on tracking patients and filling in the correct forms and that “PASs can be difficult to manage within current NHS financial arrangements”.
With seven-out-of-ten respondents admitting they did not have the capacity to begin more schemes, the report also suggested the NHS may refuse future PASs. However, the DH insisted it will continue with PASs but said PCTs should create their own system for managing the rebates.
“We have – through the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) – now set up an expert advisory panel with strong NHS representation which is consulted when schemes are proposed and which provides advice to the department on their implementability,” a spokesperson said.
“Primary care trusts and hospital trusts need to agree locally between them how any rebates paid by drug companies are dealt with.”
Tags: NHS, PASs, PCTs, Steve Williamson