OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to give a review of the complex system of budgetary constraints to which the French health-care system has been committed since 1996 and to evaluate the consequences on drug policy and on efficient use of pharmaceuticals. METHODS Literature review, legal texts analysis, and interviews with policy makers and companies managers were performed. RESU...

BACKGROUND Claims-based measures of "low-value" pediatric services could facilitate the implementation of interventions to reduce the provision of potentially harmful services to children. However, few such measures have been developed. METHODS We developed claims-based measures of 20 services that typically do not improve child health according to evidence-based guidelines (eg, cough and col...

India has outlined its commitment to achieving universal health coverage and several states in India are rolling out strategies to support this aim. In 2011, Rajasthan implemented an ambitious universal access to medicines programme based on a centralized procurement and decentralized distribution model. In terms of the three dimensions of universal health coverage, the scheme has made signific...

Medicines play an integral part of healthcare delivery. However, they are expensive commodities and account for a significant proportion of overall health expenditure in most countries. Irrational use of medicines is a major challenge facing many health systems across the world. Such practices are likely to lead to poor health delivery that may put patients at risk and result in wastage of scar...

Generic drugs should be interchangeable with originators in terms of quality and efficacy. With relative lower prices, generic drugs are playing an important role in controlling health expenditures and ensuring access. However, the widespread understanding of "cheap price equals low quality" has a negative impact on the acceptance of generic drugs. In China, medical doctors doubt the efficacy a...

This Issue Brief closely examines expenditures on prescription drugs, and discusses their potential to substitute for other types of health care services. In addition, it describes employer coverage of prescription drugs, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs, and potential legislation affecting the prescription drug market. Prescription drug expenditures grew at double-digit rat...

A simultaneous equations model is estimated to analyze the interaction between state Medicaid pharmaceutical drug reimbursement rates, drug recipients per capita, and expenditures per drug recipient. Interest groups are shown to have a strong positive impact on pharmacy reimbursement rates, which, in turn, have an impact on pharmacy participation rates and drug utilization and expenditure patte...

OBJECTIVE To estimate, among privately insured youth in the U.S., medical expenditures associated with diabetes and the difference in medical expenditures between individuals with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) and with non-ITDM (NITDM). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Using the 2007 MarketScan commercial claims and encounter database, we analyzed data for 49,356 youth (aged ≤ 19 years)...