[2] The term has begun to enter consumer-oriented Australian media in both journalistic[3] and corporate[4] contexts, while the concepts are becoming increasingly central to general pharmaceutical practice.
[5] In the 1997-1998 Australian federal budget, the Government allocated funds towards creation of the National Prescribing Service (NPS MedicineWise), a body tasked with undertaking and promoting Quality Use of Medicines work.
The organisation’s services such as the Medicine Name Finder andMedicines Line are the most apparent representations of governmental QUM policy at work.
The PBAC takes a number of QUM-related factors into account, including those not traditionally looked at by doctors like cost-effectiveness, course length and alternative therapies.
[7] The body has been praised for its improvements to the PBS system, most particularly in the area of cost-effectiveness.