Speaking at this week's BPD Annual conference, Shadow Health Minister Senator Anne Ruston said ministers are often forced into "buying reform" in a system that prioritises reducing cost over value.
Senator Ruston spoke at the event and took questions from the audience.
In response to one question, Senator Ruston said, "I think there is nothing more obvious in the history of the political process is that if you want to do real reform, you often need to buy it."
The shadow minister said her professional background in economics was valuable because it meant she understood the long-term value to the community and health system of early investment in new technologies.
"I mean, what I find quite extraordinary about our system at the moment is that we talk up preventative and primary care, early diagnosis, early intervention, and then everything we do is not pointed towards delivering on that. So I would suggest that if you went back to basics and said, ok, let's have a look at what the most efficient and effective way it is to deliver the best possible outcomes for Australians in their healthcare system, we actually would be building a system around a value proposition as opposed to the cost. There will be increasingly divergent outcomes until we stop this race to the bottom on cost," said Senator Ruston.
Senator Ruston welcomed the Government's financial commitment to creating the one-stop shop for clinical trials approval and the industry's advocacy in support of the initiative.
"The Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement is a significant part of the Budget with the additional $3 billion. Obviously, there is very little detail yet," she said, adding that the freeze on the annual indexation of PBS patient co-payments is welcome but cannot be considered major cost-of-living relief.
"So the big review that I have been waiting for patiently, and I kept on saying I was always happy to support bold reforms from the government, is the Health Technology Assessment Review. Where is it?" asked Senator Ruston.
"We were supposed to see the final report at the end of last year. There doesn't appear to be any funding allocated in the 2024-25 Budget that you could see is going to be directed towards the implementation of any reforms that might be contained in that review. So, I'd have to say it is a pretty sad indictment of the importance that this minister seems to be placing on this review.
"It's an area that I would've thought he wanted to engage because it is the number one area that demonstrates that we could be looking at value and access as the thing that underpins our system instead of constantly chasing price to the bottom of the barrel," she said.
Senator Ruston continued, "But I want to reiterate my commitment that if the Government comes up with sensible reforms in the next 12 months, as we lead up to the next election, I will support them."