Document 1
Document 1
A count of publicly funded dispensings, people who received a publicly funded dispensing of selected pharmaceuticals, and total reimbursement cost (ex. GST), by year, 2006 - 2020
Selected pharmaceutical defined as those in therapeutic group (level 3) 'HMG CoA Reductase Inhibitors (Statins)'
Extracted 6/12/2021
Notes
NHIs should not be summed, as they will be counted in each row and column they appear; this may result in doublecounting.
The totals presented here (i.e., the highlighted and bolded figures) are calculated without double-counting. They may not be equal to the total of the row, column or 
table.
Administrative and bulk dispensing data has been excluded.
ACT 1982
Although we've reviewed the provisional data presented here, this data could have unexpected errors that may be picked up through the rigorous data quality 
checks publication datasets undergo. As a result, published data may differ from the provisional data presented here.  Published data should be considered the most 
accurate source and used where possible.
The Pharmaceutical Collection only counts publicly funded, community dispensed pharmaceuticals; It does not count hospital dispensings, drugs not funded by 
PHARMAC, or prescriptions that were never dispensed.
Some medications can be dispensed via practitioner supply order; for example, a family planning clinic may be dispensed a large volume of contraceptives which 
they then dispense to clients. Dispensings of this type have very poor NHI reporting and it is often not possible to tell who is ultimately receiving the medication. 
These are excluded from the following data.
Before the new Community Pharmacy Services Agreement in July 2012, it was not mandatory for pharmacies to submit a claim for items where the healthcare 
user’s copayment covered the entire cost of dispensing the pharmaceutical (e.g. there was nothing to claim for). This can create an artificial trend for increases in 
INFORMATION 
lower cost medicines over this time.
The Pharmaceutical Collection is a live dataset, whilst the Pharmaceutical Data Web Tool is a static extract. Comparing the two extracts may result in different 
figures.
Source: Ministry of Health, Pharmaceutical Collection
Year Dispensings Reimbursement Cost (ex. GST) People
2006
1,799,439
$
72,030,401
 
320,232
2007
2,014,605
$
68,038,280
 
349,511
2008
2,262,614
$
72,526,527
 
384,231
2009
2,560,463
$
51,024,656
 
425,719
2010
2,842,230
$
49,068,248
 
451,514
2011
3,021,306
$
73,140,288
 
472,802
2012
2,975,418
$
59,336,464
 
491,437
2013
2,786,831
$
6,784,797
 
505,536
2014
3,017,166
$
7,003,678
 
514,481
2015
3,128,888
$
8,067,377
 
517,002
2016
2,891,356
$
7,249,324
 
519,073
2017
2,902,209
$
4,528,601
 
524,408
2018
3,007,556
$
3,774,513
 
533,710
2019
3,015,597
$
3,268,928
 
539,422
2020
3,996,710
$
4,362,002
 
548,565
RELEASED UNDER THE OFFICIAL 

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