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Comprehensive taxonomy and worldwide trends in pharmaceutical policies in relation to country income status
- Source :
- BMC Health Services Research, Vol 17, Iss 1, Pp 1-17 (2017), BMC Health Services Research
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- BMC, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Background Rapidly evolving socioeconomic and technological trends make it challenging to improve access, effectiveness and efficiency in the use of pharmaceuticals. This paper identifies and systematically classifies the prevailing pharmaceutical policies worldwide in relation to a country’s income status. Methods A literature search was undertaken to identify and taxonomize prevailing policies worldwide. Countries that apply those policies and those that do not were then grouped by income status. Results Pharmaceutical policies are linked to a country’s socioeconomics. Developed countries have universal coverage and control pharmaceuticals with external and internal price referencing systems, and indirect price–cost controls; they carry out health technology assessments and demand utilization controls. Price-volume and risk-sharing agreements are also evolving. Developing countries are underperforming in terms of coverage and they rely mostly on restrictive state controls to regulate prices and expenditure. Conclusions There are significant disparities worldwide in the access to pharmaceuticals, their use, and the reimbursement of costs. The challenge in high-income countries is to maintain access to care whilst dealing with trends in technology and aging. Essential drugs should be available to all; however, many low- and middle-income countries still provide most of their population with only poor access to medicines. As economies grow, there should be greater investment in pharmaceutical care, looking to the policies of high-income countries to increase efficiency. Pharmaceutical companies could also develop special access schemes with low prices to facilitate coverage in low-income countries. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-017-2304-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Subjects :
- Internationality
Pharmaceutical/drug policy
Cost Control
Population
Developing country
Drug Costs
03 medical and health sciences
Pharmaceutical/drug pricing & reimbursement
0302 clinical medicine
Humans
Medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
Healthcare Disparities
Health technology assessment
education
Developing Countries
Socioeconomic status
Health policy
education.field_of_study
Public economics
business.industry
Developed Countries
030503 health policy & services
Health Policy
lcsh:Public aspects of medicine
Health technology
lcsh:RA1-1270
Investment (macroeconomics)
Pharmaceutical care
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Pharmaceutical/drug demand controls
Income
Drug and Narcotic Control
Health Expenditures
Drugs, Essential
0305 other medical science
business
Developed country
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14726963
- Volume :
- 17
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BMC Health Services Research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5196cab639b5a34cbbde0a447cada27d