Hypertension costing Australia $1.2 billion a year

An analysis of Australia’s hypertension costs has revealed ‘patients are carrying an unfair share of the overall burden’, with those in lower socioeconomic and rural areas the most impacted, according to its lead author.
 
The independent research, undertaken by The George Institute for Global Health, found the estimated annual cost of treating hypertension in 2021–22 was $1.2 billion.
 
It found patients are footing around 40% of the bill in out-of-pocket charges, and the other 60% is being paid through Federal Government subsidies and industry contracts.
 
The study revealed that during 2021–22 pharmacy costs for high blood pressure totalled $611 million, or 51%, including administration and handling, dispensing fees, and e-prescription fees.
 
At the same time, GP appointments cost $342 million (29%), and purchase of medicines from manufacturers cost $221 million (18%).
 
In the decade spanning 2012–22, the estimated total expenditure for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in Australia was $12.2 billion.
 
The study concludes that these figures show ‘further efforts may be needed to reduce treatment costs for patients’.
 
‘These changes are particularly important if the hypertension control rate is to be substantially improved in Australia, given the large numbers of undertreated and untreated people with hypertension,’ it said.
 
Currently, 34% of Australian adults have high blood pressure, but only half of these people are aware of it, ‘with the lack of widespread screening a major factor’, according to researchers.
 
Lead author Professor Anthony Rodgers described the findings as ‘surprising’ and ‘very interesting’, and now hopes the analysis will provide the Government with improved insights into the condition’s true cost.
 
‘Two things struck us immediately: how much of the cost is going through pharmacy, and that patients are carrying an unfair share of the overall burden,’ he said.
 
‘It provides a real-world snapshot of the scale of spending on the problem, and who exactly is footing the bill.’
 
For the study, researchers used publicly available data from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Medicare Benefits Schedule, MedicineInsight general practice reports, and Community Pharmacy Agreements.  
 
While current 60-day dispensing arrangements were introduced last year, after the study period, Professor Rodgers said the impacts of these changes remain low, ‘so patients aren’t yet receiving the full benefit.’
 
‘We looked at common blood pressure medicines and it looks like there’s still less than a 20% uptake for the 60-day scripts in the last few months, that’s more than a year after the policy was started,’ he said.
 
‘The first thing is increasing uptake of that [60-day dispensing] and trying to reduce the barriers to that going to scale, making patients more aware of it.
 
‘Our research sends a clear message to decisionmakers that we can and must improve health policy to reduce preventable deaths from heart attack, stroke and kidney disease in Australia.’
 
Moving forward, Professor Rodgers told newsGP he would like to see better access for patients, particularly for individuals and families with lower socioeconomic resources and those in rural and remote communities.
 
‘Many are living with other health problems too and would face difficult choices about what medicines or health appointments they can afford’, he said.
 
‘This puts their health at risk and is a fundamental barrier to Australia achieving better blood pressure control and avoiding the serious and more costly health problems down the track.’
 
‘Everyone tends to think, “we have concession cards, that kind of takes care of the equity issue”, but I think there’s a lot of people that are actually struggling.
 
‘We’ve just looked at blood pressure – the exact same thing is going to be playing out for multiple other chronic conditions, you name it, diabetes, high cholesterol, gout, it’s all going to be likely the same issue.’
 
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