Yesterday, 9 september, six ministries, namely, the ministry of commerce, cdrc, the ministry of finance, the ministry of human welfare, the commission for the defence of human rights and the general directorate of pharmacology, issued a circular (hereinafter referred to as " the circular " ) on the implementation of the priority health-care programme for 2014 to improve the quality and efficiency of drug-trafficking services, officially untying the drug trade。
The daily economic news reporter learned from the circular that the business authorities will promote medicine in a variety of ways, in conjunction with other sectors such as development reform, by separating the health and family planning sectors, and will “prompt clean-up and repeal the policy provisions that impede fair competition in the drug trade and create a unified market throughout the country”. At the level of pharmacy development, the six ministries suggested that in the pilot cities for the reform of public hospitals, the use of out-patient pharmacies and other specialized services in medical institutions by qualified retail pharmacies could be explored, a new model of outpatient diagnosis by physicians was gradually developed, patients were given prescriptions to medical institutions or retail pharmacies to purchase medicines autonomously, and retail pharmacies that met the qualifications could be included in the health-care points in a timely manner. The industry believes that this would greatly benefit the large chain of pharmacies, whose impact is difficult to judge。
Promoting the patient's “self-purchase”
The separation of medicines has been an important step in advancing the process of new medical treatments as a means of cutting off economic benefits between hospitals, medical staff and drug marketers. In 2002, the national commission for development and rehabilitation launched the medical separation pilot, but the pilot was not continued owing to a lack of policy coherence and the transfer of leadership。
The current “separation of medicine” stems from the ccp central state council's opinion of 17 march 2009 on the further reform of the medical and health system, which states that public health care must be of a public interest, that it must be based on a preventive, rural-focused approach, and that health care must be provided in the west and west of the country。
Previously, department of commerce sources had revealed that, in the next phase of new medical care, various forms of medicine would be sought to be separated, the supply of drugs and security capacity in retail pharmacies would be enhanced, and the hospital outpatient pharmacies would be gradually transitioned to retail pharmacies, and the department of commerce would be the main department promoting the separation of medicines。
In response, the circular specifically named “the medical separation”. As a next step, the va and the business authorities will actively promote the tiered management of drug retail enterprises, and business authorities and the security and safety services should actively engage with the reform, finance, social security, and pharmacological departments to study local practices, experiences and successes in promoting the separation of medicines。
In the pilot cities for the reform of public hospitals, a larger retail pharmacies with strict quality control, a well-established and well-documented pharmacist pharmacist service can be explored, a number of forms of reform of out-patient pharmacies and other specialized services in medical institutions can be undertaken, and the management of medicines in medical institutions can be strengthened to promote rational clinical use。
Moreover, the business authorities and the security and safety services should closely follow the reform process, gradually developing a new model for medical doctors responsible for outpatient diagnostics, the free purchase of medicines by patients on prescription to medical institutions or retail pharmacies, and ensuring that medical institutions issue and transpose prescriptions in accordance with the prescription management scheme (formerly ministry of health decree no. 53), guaranteeing the patient's right to know the prescription and the choice of medicines。
I'm gonna have to go to a retail pharmacy
It is closely linked to medicines and includes different types of pharmacies in the country and related drug distributors. To that end, the six ministries have also been developing new approaches specifically aimed at the chain of pharmacies, among others, and a number of ministries have joined forces to promote the development of the chain of pharmacies in the country。
Journalists were informed from the official website of the ministry of commerce that the next step in bringing eligible retail pharmacies into the health-care field in a timely manner and gradually expanding the coverage of health-care outlets。
The circular requires the authorities concerned to increase the share of retail pharmacies in the market for medicines in conjunction with the deepening of the medical rehabilitation and pharmaceutical separation pilot, to remove policy obstacles to the development of retail pharmacies and to reduce the time required for administrative approval。
“the circular, which is mainly about the separation of medicine, is good news for pharmacies. The pharmacy is now in a difficult position, as the main distribution channels are in the hands of hospitals, where about 80 per cent of the traffic is in. The ministry, having made efforts to separate medicines, will certainly increase the flow of pharmacies.” on 9 september, zhao town, an analyst of the drake information and medicine industry, told journalists。
From a detailed analysis of future patterns of competition, the new deal is more favourable to a chain of pharmacies than to a single-body pharmacies. “because the chain of pharmacies is a future trend, they have advantages that are not available at a single-body pharmacies, for example, in terms of the supply of medicines.” according to zhao. In fact, behind the policy is the demand for pharmacies. These pharmacies should be larger, more professional and more business-oriented pharmacies in order to better replace the role of the hospital pharmacies and thus serve the purpose of a medical separation. These are the advantages of a large chain。
With regard to the forthcoming introduction by the ministry of human welfare of “the timely inclusion of qualified retail pharmacies in health-care settings”, it appears to the town of zhao that there will be greater pressure on the authorities to regulate this sector and that the expansion of health-care coverage will involve a number of key aspects such as medical professional data management and medical safety。
Improvement of the centralized procurement system for medicines
At the same time, six ministries have put on their agenda the improvement of the central system of drug procurement. The daily economic news journalist was informed that the methodist department would work together to improve the central procurement system for drugs, including in the finance sector, taking fully into account distribution costs to primary health-care facilities and remote areas, and to determine the price of medicines。
Moreover, business authorities will work with the relevant departments to develop policies to encourage large and medium-sized bulk drug distribution enterprises to extend their distribution and distribution networks to rural and remote areas and to enhance supply security capacities at the grass-roots and remote levels。
“a number of supporting documents regulating drug purchase pricing mechanisms may also be developed in the future in the relevant sectors.” the vice-president of the chinese medical materials association, shanxi inn, and chairman of the group's large pharmacy chain ltd., all-jong, indicated that they had been involved in the drug trade。
Our drug procurement has been centralized since the 1990s. In liaoning province, a grass-roots medical procurement staff member told journalists that while the central procurement of medicines had been carried out from the outset under the multiple tasks of regulating drug purchases by medical institutions, regulating the flow of medicines and regulating the price of medicines, a rigorous bidding process had been adopted, but the actual situation was that the price of medicines currently procured through centralized bidding was not low, owing to the desire of all parties to increase the price of medicines to benefit more。
In the view of cai gangnam, director of the health management and policy centre of the central european institute of international business and industry, in the pharmaceutical industry, the government's hand is not all-powerful, even if it is administratively priced, it is difficult to achieve results. Therefore, a change in the model of centralized procurement and tendering alone does not solve the current problem of overprice, and “the procurement of medicines should be given more to the market”
Zai gangnam told journalists of the daily economic news that there are two ways to develop a reasonable pricing mechanism for medicines: the first is the introduction of internet-based technological innovations in the drug-circulation industry, the purchase and sale of medicines via the internet, and the reduction of the cost of drug circulation; the second is the introduction of drug exchange models in places such as chongqing, innovative market mechanisms and administrative interventions to reduce excessive drug circulation。
Responsible editor: zhang dei
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