Government drug-buying agency Pharmac says it will make major changes to the way it arrives at often hotly-debated funding decisions, following extensive consultation with the public since last year.
Pharmac said today that future drug-funding decisions would include explicit acknowledgement that it had considered the impact they would have on a person, their family, whanau and on the wider society, as well as on the health system.
This would cover need, health benefits, costs and savings, and the suitability of the change.
Nine decision criteria would be replaced with 15 factors for consideration, in what Pharmac described as the biggest change to its decision framework in 21 years.
It said the change would occur late in 2015 next year once it was certain that people understood the new system and how it would be used.