Knowledge-Based Governance Can Improve the Elderly Population's Equity of Access to Public Pharmaceutical Funding: The ASSET (Age/Sex Standardised Estimates of Treatment) Research Model

Abstract

Ageing and technological change play a major role in the governance of healthcare resources, with cohorts living longer and consuming increasing amounts of intensive, previously unavailable treatments. Equity of access to pharmaceutical treatment on the basis of clinical need alone remains the central principle of the public healthcare system, raising the issue of an equitable distribution of resources in proportion to the population needs. The primary objective of this study was to discuss the adoption of a knowledge-based capitation model (ASSET, Age/Sex Standardised Estimates of Treatment) and its implications for healthcare policy makers. The ASSET model confirmed the validity of demographic adjusted models to quantify the impact of ageing population in terms of resources needed to satisfy long-term population prescribing needs. The ASSET weightings should be used as a guide, not as the ultimate determinant, for an equitable allocation of prescribing resources in conjunction with historic utilisation and cost data.

Keywords: age, sex, estimates, cost, treatment, governance, pharmaceutical, demand, knowledge, inequalities

JEL Classification: H51, I11, I18