Attn: Prescribers

Greetings
Information on Named Patient Pharmaceutical Assessment (NPPA)
As you may be aware, PHARMAC’s Named Patient Pharmaceutical Assessment (NPPA) Policy for funding for individuals in exceptional circumstances comes into effect from 1 March 2012. This will replace the current Community, Cancer, and Hospital Exceptional Circumstances Schemes.

Information on NPPA can be found on PHARMAC’s website: http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/nppa. Specifically, there is a Questions and Answers for Clinicians document – http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/2012/02/17/NPPA%20clinician%20info%20sheet.pdf.

We have also developed Questions and Answers for Consumers – to which prescribers can refer patients wanting information about the process –

http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/2012/02/17/NPPA%20consumer%20info%20sheet.pdf.
Applying for funding under NPPA

From 1 March, prescribers will be able to access the NPPA application form here: http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/nppa.

If you wish to familiarise yourself with the application form in advance, you can view a copy of this here: http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/nppaapplication.php. Please note that any attempt to submit the application form in this link (prior to or following 1 March) will be unsuccessful as it is a test version only.

We have received a number of queries about the process for HPC under-$500 applications so wish to emphasise the information below (which is included in Questions and Answers for Clinicians).

How do I apply for treatments that meet the HPC prerequisites and cost under $500?
There is no difference in process. Applications for treatments meeting the prerequisites for the ‘Hospital Pharmaceuticals in the Community’ pathway and costing under $500 will need to be made under the HPC pathway as for all other HPC applications.

We hoped to be able to implement a process by which District Health Boards (DHBs) could approve funding, without application to PHARMAC, for all treatments that met the prerequisites for the HPC pathway and cost $500 or under. Unfortunately at this stage we’re not able to put this in place. We found that because the data requirements to support such a system could not easily be met, implementing such a system would create significant additional work for DHBs and PHARMAC – defeating the purpose of the initiative. We will continue to consider how we can give effect to the flexibility that we’d like to make available, without increasing the resource burden for DHBs.

Questions?
If you have any questions about NPPA please contact us at nppa@pharmac.govt.nz or 0800 660 050.

Many thanks
The NPPA team

Back to blog entries