The year 2012/13 marks the last phase of the transition to the new NHS for England, and the next NHS Operating Framework sets out the template for this. Alan Jones looks into its implications for pharma.
As we approach the next NHS financial year, it is time to examine what the Department of Health expects of the NHS and what this might mean for pharma. The new Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2012/13 is rather dry, but nevertheless is one of the ’must-read’ documents as you start to prepare your business plans for the year ahead. We pick out some highlights here.
First off, the document sets out the business and planning arrangements for the NHS and describes the national priorities and the ‘system levers and enablers’ needed for NHS organisations to improve the quality of services provided, while both delivering transformational change and maintaining financial stability (aka ‘grip’). It also sets out the practical steps that need to be taken to carry the NHS through a stable transition over the coming year as it moves towards its new structures.
There is much about transforming service delivery and the major shift to a more outcomes-focused approach. The main chapters are on quality, the reform process, finance and ‘business rules’, and planning and accountability. Note that this will be the final Operating Framework for the current delivery system of PCTs and SHAs, and probably the last one of its kind, since this is the final year of transition to the new system.
Outcomes to the fore
This document is rather dry, because there is now a lot of other ‘sexy’ health policy stuff around in documents such as those on clinical commissioning group (CCG) authorisation, clinical commissioning support and the more recent 2012/13 NHS Outcomes Framework – again, all important documents to peruse, and with major implications for pharma.
Pinched from the latest Outcomes Framework are new national performance measures laid out according to the various domains, described in detail in the Annex to the document. For example, from ‘Domain 2: Enhancing quality of life for people with long-term conditions’ there are measures around early intervention (mental health measures) and unplanned hospitalisation in diabetes patients (long-term condition measures). By 2013/14 both the NHS Commissioning Board (NHSCB) and the CCGs will be held to account for such outcomes delivery, and will be expected to publish data on achievement against the indicators in the Outcomes Framework at a local level. This will be linked to the proposals for the new Commissioning Outcomes Framework (COF), which is due to go live in 2013/14.
Some of the COF indicators will be based on NICE quality standards, and as with the Outcomes Framework there will be a particular focus on clinical effectiveness. Also stressed is the link of COF not only to the NHS Outcomes Framework but also to the Public Health and Adult Social Care Outcomes Frameworks. Readers might want to examine these closely to see where they overlap with shared indicators – this is particularly relevant with the new drive towards better integration of care in long-term conditions such as schizophrenia.
QIPP and innovation
The NHS Operating Framework spends a fair amount of time going through some of the outcome measures or proxies in the five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework – all hugely relevant to pharma. CHD/CVD, diabetes, mental health, cancer, asthma, COPD, epilepsy and venous thrombolembolism are all in the mix. With payers no longer wanting to be sold ‘pills and gadgets’ but solutions that unlock quality and value, now is the time for brand managers to finally step up to the NHS mark.
Early diagnosis and treatment are stressed, as are NICE quality standards. There is to be a renewed push on implementation of the national dementia strategy, and commissioners need to ensure that providers are compliant with NICE quality standards and that diagnosis rates improve.
Interestingly, there are some reform indicators for the first time – e.g. the percentage authorisation of CCGs. NHS and NHSCB Chief Executive Sir David Nicholson points out in his foreword to the document that this is the second year of the quality and productivity challenge, and he emphasises the need for the NHS response to this challenge to accelerate.
QIPP gets considerable coverage, with examples of good practice being given and available resources noted – such as the NHS Evidence website and the Atlas of Variation, with Volume 2 of the latter now published with prescribing maps. Sir David wants more rapid diffusion of good practice (industry should be able to help here), and the new Innovation Review sets out specific measures to achieve this. Service change and clinical service redesign are seen as key, and again this is something that pharma must factor into its forward plans.
New customers galore
2012/13 is seen by the Government as a critical year for the building of the new NHS architecture and delivery system. The CCGs will have to focus on improving care of long-term conditions; clinical networks and clinical senates will be established; and the Health and Wellbeing Boards plus the NHS Commissioning Board will go onstream. There will be more NHS Foundation Trusts, though it is expected that around 20 hospitals will not make the grade. There will be continued rollout of Any Qualified Providers plus the new commissioning support organisations, and there is mention of the newly-integrated organisations that have arisen via the Transforming Community Services programme.
So there are many new industry customer groups since this time last year! Note that the first time, the document states that the Health and Wellbeing Boards should be the ‘local systems leader’ with the key role of integrating local commissioning and overseeing a clear local strategy across the three separate systems of the NHS, public health and social care through joint strategic needs assessments (JSNAs). Please remember that local government is where the director of public health will be based in future, which is another good reason to put local authorities on your radar…
CQUIN and PbR
The document also proposes new national CQUIN goals, and the amount that providers can earn goes up to 2.5% of income. It is suggested that they may want to use the measures of the Innovation Review to help them set up such schemes. Commissioners must share agreed schemes on the NHS Institute website, and if you have not visited this site there is a real treasure trove of local schemes there. Some of these case studies could usefully be shared with customers. Click here for further information.
Local CQUIN schemes that are developing will need to be watched. And watch out too for developments within PbR in 2012/13, aimed at improving the links with quality of care, driving integration and incentivising the implementation of QIPP. That means expanding best practice tariffs, incentivising the performance of procedures in a less acute setting, pathway and mental health tariffs, and both chemotherapy and HIV joining the PbR club.
Clinical Commissioning Groups
Finally, note that CCGs are expected to be given £25 per head of population to be spent on management costs. This is before any entitlement to a COF ‘quality premium’. This sum is at the lower end of the expected range for the running cost allowance, and probably places the future of some of the smaller CCGs in doubt. Indeed, some CCG mergers have already begun. Through the coming year, folk will need to track the authorisation (or not) of each CGG, as this again is essential key account management stuff!
CCGs will also be thinking now about commissioning support and whether or not they need external support. This must be highly relevant to the pharma account management strategies beginning to take shape for the new ‘payers’, as well as the folk in head office considering new ‘support offerings’. Note that some aspects of medicines management also seem to be in the mix, and some of these providers could well be private companies.
Wrapping up
So there we are: another outline sketch of the key annual NHS business planning document and the year ahead. This is all key need-to-know stuff regarding the future new customers of pharma. With an acceleration of new customer groups springing up, industry account managers will have a lot to think about. The onward development of the CCGs particularly needs to be tracked, as does the commissioning support system being proposed. The development of the NHS Commissioning Board will also need to be watched, as it will be a brand new and critically important national account. It will, for example, have a ‘medicines optimisation’ role. Who will be the gatekeeper(s) in head office?
As the journey’s end draws near, the NHS at the end of 2012/13 will look and feel very different to the NHS at the beginning of the year. Are you getting ready for the final transition?
Alan Jones is an occasional contributor to Pf. He commentates and presents widely on the ongoing reform within the NHS and its implications for pharma and is a consultant to Wellards. An independent healthcare policy analyst, adviser and NHS trainer and mentor, he can be contacted here.
Subscribe