Benefits Of International Reference Pricing China And Japan

By Betty Sanders


The cost of healthcare is ever on the rise. As countries struggle to provide universal access to healthcare, more and more people are falling into the bracket of those who cannot access such services. One of the main barriers to universal access to healthcare has been identified as the high cost of medicines. Hence, it is important for governments to ensure that medicines are affordable. One of the ways of doing this is using the IRP. Among the countries that have tried International Reference Pricing China and Japan take the lead because of its realized potential.

Such a system ensures a streamlined cost of healthcare. Disparities in charges often exist where there is no control. For example, the same drug might be sold by a big margin between two different regions in the same country. With this system, however, the price of a drug is guaranteed to be the same whether you are in Eastern or western China.

There is increased market access. The system indicates clearly the amount the patient is allowed to pay. Any excesses are handled by the government or insurance agents, depending on the country's policies. This encourages people to seek medical services as they are certain that they will not be left penniless by the time they come back from the hospital.

The control of drug manufacturers on the prices of medicines is eliminated. A capitalistic system, such as what the drug market is, can be cannibalistic. For example, drug manufacturers may escalate process, not because of high production costs but simply because they are dominant and can dictate prices. Such a scenario would play against the government's interest in providing universal access to healthcare.

Patients experience greater benefits. When the prices are clearly known, it is not only access to health care that is increased, but also quality. It has been evidence that there is increased quality in care among the drugs under the IRP system. This can be attributed to the fact that many people can now afford these medicines and get the treatment they need.

Referencing is critical in reducing the prices of medicines. There are many ways in which governments can regulate the costs of medicines. However, IRP is found to be the most suitable because it considers several issues to ensure that while patients benefit, the manufactures also do not lose.

IRP is simple and cheap. Many systems fail at the implementation stage. This is because they are rigorous and require a lot of information to be implemented successfully. However, when countries share similar economic and geographic environments such as China, and Japan do, they can benefit from IRP greatly.

The system is easy to implement. The most important tool in the implementation of this system is communication. Once the relevant IR policies have been developed, they only need to be communicated to the drug manufacturers and other stakeholders for implementation to begin. This is not only easy, but also cheap.

Over the years, the IRP has gained increased usage. It is mostly used in Asia but is also dominant in Europe. The United States is also considering its adoption. As this growth is witnessed across the globe, there is a lot that other countries can learn from China and Japan.




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