segunda-feira, setembro 26

Remuneração das Farmácias

Um dos temas de discussão do grande debate (assim esperamos) de hoje à noite.
CC, pretende alterar, até ao final do corrente ano, a remuneração das farmácias e armazenistas, efectuada actualmente através de uma percentagem sobre o preço do medicamento, para a fixação de uma determinada margem fixa por medicamento vendido, independente do seu preço .
Medida prioritária a requerer implementação urgente.
The pharmacy sector is extensively regulated, but regulation rather than enhanced competition has preserved the pharmacies’ monopoly over the distribution of drugs . There are barriers to entry into the pharmacists’ profession and to the establishment of a community pharmacy. The profit margins of prescribed drugs to wholesalers and pharmacies are fixed (the wholesalers’ gross margin is 8%, whilst the gross margin of pharmacies is 20% of the market price). These margins have had perverse incentives for pharmacies since they induce them to dispense the most expensive drugs and to ‘overlook’ less expensive substitutes . Payments to pharmacies, increased consumption and a lack of cost awareness by doctors when prescribing drugs have contributed to a sharp increase in pharmaceutical expenditure . For example, per capita pharmaceutical expenditure (at PPP) grew 33% between 1990 and 1995, 42% between 1995 and 1999, and 18% between 1999 and 2002 .
Mónica Duarte Oliveira e Carlos Gouveia Pinto.
Health care reformin Portugal: an evaluation of the NHS experience