Abstract
Objectives: To assess the effects on medicine price, a new public medicine procurement policy (NPMPP) undertaken in western China in 2015. Methods: An interrupted time series analysis was used to evaluate the impact of NPMPP on the prices of emergency medicines, gynaecological medicines, and paediatric medicines in Shaanxi Province, western China. Based on the procurement records in all the public health institutions in Shaanxi Province, we built three regression models. The monthly average price growth rate of the three categories of medicines was analysed covering the period 2015 to 2017. Findings: Before the intervention, there was an increasing trend in the monthly average growth rate of the three categories of medicines, but significant only in emergency medicines and paediatric medicines. After the introduction of NPMPP, the increasing trend was accelerated for both the emergency medicines (coefficient = 0.114, P < 0.001) and gynaecological medicines (coefficient = 0.078, P < 0.05), whereas the increasing trend for paediatric medicines was slowed down after the intervention (coefficient = −0.024, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Using interrupted time series analysis, we identified a statistically significant increase in the price growth rate of emergency medicines and gynaecological medicines, but a statistically significant decrease in the price growth rate of paediatrics, following the introduction of NPMPP. The impact of NPMPP on emergency medicines was greater than that on gynaecological medicines. To inhibit the growth trend of drug price, effective policies need to be introduced.
Highlights
Drug shortages were a serious problem in China (Fan et al, 2018)
To ensure the veracity of assessment of this new public medicine procurement policy (NPMPP), we focused on one single province, Shaanxi Province, by monitoring contextual factors that might influence our interests
We identified the effects of the NPMPP, which aimed to address this drug shortage problem, on the price of emergency, gynaecological, and paediatric medicines
Summary
Drug shortages were a serious problem in China (Fan et al, 2018). During the period of 2016 to 2017, the number of drugs in short supply monitored by the central government reached 1,000 (Wang et al, 2018). In a 29-province study in China, nearly two-thirds of the physicians reported that drug shortages occurred at least once a month (Yang et al, 2018). Among the three geographical regions (i.e., eastern, central, and western China), the eastern and western regions experienced more serious drug shortages than did the central region (Fan et al, 2018). One study in Shaanxi Province, western China, reported that there were almost 100 drugs in short supply in only 20 hospitals (12 secondary hospitals and 8 tertiary hospitals) in 2016 (Yang et al, 2016). The ongoing drug shortages crisis had exacted a significant effect on patient care and brought great challenges for the government (Du et al, 2018)
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