Comparative Study of Pharmaceutical Costs in Iran's Insurance Systems: Review of National Data in an International Perspective

Introduction: Medications are the substantial part of health carewith high costeffectivenessthat a large share of the household expenditure is allocated to them. Inrecent years, most developed countries have been faced with increasing Pharmaceuticalcosts (about 10%-20%). In recent years, Iran's Pharmaceutical costs also have constantlyincreased. The aim of this study was to evaluate Pharmaceutical coverage, determinePharmaceutical problems and find ways to overcome the problems.Methods: This study was a comparative-descriptive, review and retrospective study thatused library and internet sites as resources. The study has two major phases. In the firstphase, we searched primary sources and the internet to find an appropriate model togather information about Pharmaceutical systems in the selected countries. In the secondphase, we collected the information and statistics relating to pharmaceuticuse inoutpatients and inpatients from 1994 to 2011 which was formally received from 4 Iranianhealth insurance organizations.Results: The results show that the costs of pharmaceutical agencies at four main healthinsurance organizations in Iran had increased more than 722% between 2001-2011, whilein the leading countries specific mechanisms have been used to control Pharmaceuticalcosts in the healthcare.Conclusion: According to the findings of this review, different countries, especiallydeveloped countries have organized concepts such as new Pharmaceutical pricing,hospital Pharmaceuticals, over the counter (OTC) Drugs, control of Pharmaceutical use,patients share in the costs and etc which has controlled the pricing of the pharmaceuticalproducts in their societies. Therefore, in all countries, these programs are orientedtowards developing Pharmaceutical services, reducing the Pharmaceutical costs and therational control of Pharmaceutical use in terms of the framework of the health caresystem. In reviewing the insurance systems and its current policy in Iran, the evidencesrelating to the methods and structures cited above can be seen, but in practice, manydesigned processes are not applying or are implemented incompletely. GrowingPharmaceutical costs in Iran indicate this issue.

Keywords:

Pharmaceutical Economics , Pharmaceutical Costs , Insurance organizations , National Health Insurance , Pharmaceutical Services Insurance , Pharmaceutical Utilization