PHP73 - Transparency In Medical Devices Pricing: Information That Helps Different Stakeholders In Decision Making

Abstract

The Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) approved in October 2006 a specific legislation, the Resolution RDC 185/2006, which obliges the suppliers of medical devices to send economic information of their products to Anvisa. In order to reduce the information asymmetry in this market, the Economic Regulation Office (NUREM/ANVISA) has developed the database of economic information of medical devices and has published on Anvisa’s website a list of prices of some cardiologic and orthopedic devices. The list compares the supplier economic information to the data provided by different sources, such as specific medical devices journals, marketing authorization and research on international and Brazilian market. The aim of this study is to present an assessment of economic information of medical devices based on the ANVISA database. The data of medical devices were collected from Anvisa’s database of economic information from 2007 to 2013. The price from different regions (Brazilian, American and European) and the classes of medical devices (cardiologic and orthopedic devices) were compared. The prices in Brazil are far superior to American and European countries. In 2013, considering different regions of Brazil, the prices can vary about 15%; the most expensive cardiologic product identified was Implantable Cardioverter/Defibrillator, whilst the most expensive orthopedic one was the Intervertebral Prosthesis (Cage). These analyses allow the health care professionals and payers know the medical device pricing behavior regarding to the internal and international market. In summary, the free access of economic data of medical devices can increase the transparency, which can be helpful to support decisions of different stakeholders, who can distribute health care resources more efficiently in order to improve the health care conditions and to develop health public policies.