Abstract:

To evaluate the long-term effect of Drug Purchasing under Joint Price Caps Policy in Fujian Province on price, prescription volume, medical insurance expense and patient’s burden, a total of 59 968 reimbursement records, during the period of 2012.1–2018.8, were processed into monthly data and analyzed through interrupted time series (ITS) regression models. The ITS analysis showed that after the implementation of the policy, (1) the price of competitive drugs was significantly increased by 128.9% (P<0.01), while the price of non-competitive drugs was significantly decreased by 18.9% (P<0.01). (2) The prescription volume of sample drugs was decreased by 32.3% (P<0.01), and that of competitive drugs was decreased by 45.9% (P<0.01), while that of non-competitive drugs was increased by 19.1% (P<0.01). (3) There was no significant change in the monthly medical insurance expense per capita of sample drugs. (4) There was no significant effect on the overall patient’s burden, while the out-of-pocket payment per capita of competitive drugs was increased by 81.4% (P<0.01).  

Key words: Pharmaceutical reimbursement criteria, Reference pricing, Policy effect, Fujian