Rising patient co-payments have led to a concerning fall in scripts dispensed for some of the most important and widely used PBS-listed drugs, a new study has revealed.
The research, published in this month's Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, found that prescription numbers and dosage were significantly lower following the 24 per cent hike in co-payment thresholds in 2005, as well as subsequent increases in safety net thresholds.
Led by Dr Anna Hynd from the University of Western Australia's School of Public Health, the researchers analysed PBS records in Western Australia for combination asthma drugs, statins, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and atypical antipsychotics between 2000 and 2007.
"What we found was that for three of those four medications, there were...
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