Pharmaceutical Cost-Containment Policies and Sustainability: Recent Irish Experience

Pharmaceutical cost-containment policy: experiences in Shanghai, China.

BACKGROUND In the decade after 1983, the annual growth rate of drug expenditure was about four times as high as that of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in Shanghai. In 1993 and 1994, a drug list policy and hospital revenue capping policy were introduced in Shanghai to contain drug expenditure. We studied the impact of these two policies, as a model for similar policies in other parts of...

Pharmaceutical cost containment with reference-based pricing: time for refinements.

Community drug expenditure and recent cost containment measures.

The annual cost of medicines under the community drugs schemes increased from Euro 564 m in 2000 to Euro 1,961 m in 2009 before falling an estimated 8% by 2011. Escalating public health costs, fiscal stress and the unsustainability of the previous growth in expenditure has led to the increased use of pharmaceutical cost containment measures in Ireland. Collectively, these measures are estimated...

Outcomes of California's Medicaid cost-containment policies, 1981-84

In 1982, California enacted a package of tough Medicaid cost-containment measures. This article examines its effects on program expenditures through 1984 by enrollment group and service category. Total expenditures fell by 19 percent (or $656.5 million) after inflation. Expenditures per enrollee declined for almost every group, with enrollees on cash assistance taking the greatest reductions. A...

Cost Containment for Climate Policy Requires Linked Technology Policies

Safety valves, discretionary advisory boards, and other cost containment mechanisms enhance the political feasibility of stringent climate policy by limiting firms’ and households’ exposures to higher than anticipated costs associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, cost containment comes at a price; it increases the risk of climate-related damages and it also discourages inves...