Tendering for pharmaceuticals as a reimbursement tool in the Cyprus Public Health Sector

Petrou, Panagiotis; Talias, Μichael A.

doi:10.1016/j.hlpt.2014.04.003

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Some respondents of these groups were from (smaller) countries with good practice experience of tendering for medicines in the out-patient sector (e.g. Cyprus, Baltic countries) [4,25]. The high administrative burden, the negative reaction of patients and other stakeholders and lower savings in the long run than expected might be possible explanations for authorities' and payers' reluctance to favour this policy.…”

Section: Policy Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stakeholder preferences about policy objectives and measures of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement

Vogler

Zimmermann

Habimana

2016

Health Policy and Technology

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Section: Policy Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tendering in the out-patient sector may also be applied to further medicines beyond generics, as this is the case in smaller countries (e.g. Cyprus) [25]. Pricing and reimbursement practices are supplemented by demand-side measures, to enhance a more rational use of medicines or to increase generics uptake.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder preferences about policy objectives and measures of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement

Vogler

Zimmermann

Habimana

2016

Health Policy and Technology

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“…32 Petrou warns that the government must resist the temptation to further increase co-payment, as it disproportionately burdens people with lower income or more healthcare needs, and he proposes safeguarding of access for vulnerable groups through exceptions, setting of a maximum ceiling for co-payment, and the introduction of a variable co-payment, contingent to patient’s income. 33 In a different direction, Petrou and Vandoros propose tendering for pharmaceuticals as a sustainable and context sensitive cost containment approach, 34 which could also be an option for the Greek government. Also, a recent Cypriot survey with semi-structured interviews concludes that the country will need to increase the market share of generic medicines to contain drug spending.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost-Sharing Rates Increase During Deep Recession: Preliminary Data From Greece

Gouvalas¹,

Igoumenidis

Θεοδώρου

et al. 2016

Int J Health Policy Manag

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Background: Measures taken over the past four years in Greece to reduce pharmaceutical expenditure have led to significant price reductions for medicines, but have also changed patient cost-sharing rates for prescription drugs. This study attempts to capture the resulting increase in patients’ out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses for prescription drugs during the 2011-2014 period. Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective review of financial data derived from 39 883 prescriptions, dispensed at three randomly chosen pharmacies located in Lamia, central Greece. Results: The study recorded an average contribution rate per prescription as follows: 11.28% for 2011 (95% CI: 10.76-11.80), 14.10% for 2012, 19.97% for 2013, and 29.08% for 2014. Correspondingly, the mean patient charge per prescription for 2011 was €6.58 (95% CI: 6.22-6.94), €8.28 for 2012, €8.35 for 2013, and €10.87 for 2014. During the 2011-2014 period, mean percentage rate of patient contribution increased by 157.75%, while average patient charge per prescription in current prices increased by 65.22%. The use of a newly introduced internal reference price (IRP) system increased the level of prescription charge at a rate of 2.41% for 2012 (100% surcharge on patients), 26.24% for 2013 (49.95% on patients and 50.04% on the appropriate health insurance funds), and 47.72% for 2014 (85.06% on patients and 14.94% on funds). Conclusion: Increased cost-sharing rates for prescription drugs can reduce public pharmaceutical expenditure, but international experience shows that rising OOP expenses can compromise patients’ ability to pay, particularly when it comes to chronic diseases and vulnerable populations. Various suggestions could be effective in refining the cost-sharing approach by giving greater consideration to chronic patients, and to the poor and elderly.

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“…Discounts are usually undisclosed and not reflected in the final price in the public segment of the market. As such, these discounts cannot be captured in the price index [18][19].…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmaceutical price comparisons across the European Union and relative affordability in Cyprus

Petrou¹,

Vandoros

2016

Health Policy and Technology

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This paper performs price comparisons of branded pharmaceutical products in markets of eleven European Union countries. We follow a Laspeyres index approach, using Cyprus as the base country and analyse prices in the private and public markets and also consider biotechnology products separately. We find that Germany, Denmark and Austria demonstrate the highest pharmaceutical prices in the EU, followed by Cyprus. When adjusting for per capita income, Cyprus demonstrates the highest prices. Given that there is no universal health insurance in Cyprus, and that the country is facing a financial crisis, our findings underline possible affordability problems for patients. In order to remove barriers to access to medicines, pharmaceutical pricing regulation could be adjusted and price revisions should take place more frequently, and, most importantly, Cyprus must move in the direction of adopting universal health insurance.

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Tendering for pharmaceuticals as a reimbursement tool in the Cyprus Public Health Sector

Cited by 21 publications

References 13 publications

Stakeholder preferences about policy objectives and measures of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement

Stakeholder preferences about policy objectives and measures of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement

Cost-Sharing Rates Increase During Deep Recession: Preliminary Data From Greece

Pharmaceutical price comparisons across the European Union and relative affordability in Cyprus

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