Assessment of the pharmaceutical expenditure in Hungary

Scarcity of health care resources draws attention to the expenditure on pharmaceuticals, as drugs are considered to be one of the major growth drivers of health care spending. This article assesses the Hungarian expenditure on pharmaceuticals by taking into account the economic status of the country and benchmarks from other OECD countries with special focus on indicators of Visegrad V4 countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary). Our results highlight the heterogeneity of pharmaceutical expenditure data derived from different indicators among observed countries. Pharmaceutical spending is relatively higher in middle-income countries, mainly due the price convergence of innovative drug's, on contrary manpower cost of health care services are adjusted to local price levels, therefore the price differential of health care services between middle income and developed countries is greater. International trends of the global pharmaceutical market are also valid in Hungary. Increased private funding, mainly out of pocket payments above the average of V4 countries, has been the major growth driver of pharmaceutical expenditure recently in Hungary. Increased private pharmaceutical expenditure was mainly derived from the severe cost-containment measures in 2006. The annual growth rate of the National Health Insurance Fund's pharmaceutical budget for drug reimbursement was 1.37% in real terms between 1994 and 2009. This is much beneath the expansion of global pharmaceutical market. Consequently, cost-containment of public pharmaceutical spending was very successful in the last fifteen years, and the burden of market growth has been shifted to households. Public health programmes, investment into preventive care, with consideration on unfavourable Hungarian morbidity and mortality indicators, however, necessitate the increase of public pharmaceutical budget. In order to improve the allocative efficiency of health care spending, available resources should be spent only on effective, cost-effective, economically affordable medicines.     

Pharmaceutical care: past, present and future

Since the concept of Pharmaceutical Care was introduced from United States about twenty years ago, this initiative has become a dominant form of practice for thousands of pharmacists around the world. Currently, pharmaceutical care is understood as the pharmacists' compromise to obtain the maximum benefit from the pharmacological treatments of the patients, being therefore responsible of monitoring their pharmacotherapy. As the profession has moved from a product orientation (dispensing medications) to a patient focus, clinical training requirements have expanded. This is a slow but ongoing process, which started from a philosophical point of view, in order to transform the concept of Pharmacy from commodity-based, mercantile operations into a clinical profession in the community pharmacies. Since its introduction, there has been an ample debate on the definition of pharmaceutical care due to differences in Pharmacy systems and in health care structure among the different countries. Moreover, several implementation barriers exist, which are attributable to problems in education, skills, resources and environment. Indeed, an awareness of the problem resulting from the use of medicines exists and numerous studies reflect that drug use control is necessary since there is an important relationship between morbidity / mortality and pharmacotherapy. Thus, it is possible to evaluate the benefits of pharmaceutical care on patients' health and ultimately on society. Many studies have been conducted, which show that the provision of pharmaceutical care has its value in common pathologies such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, hyperlipidemia, chronic pain, rheumatic diseases or psychiatric disorders, as well as in polymedicated patients. A large amount of data is currently being published in biomedical journals, in an effort to establish the clinical, economic and humanistic viability of pharmaceutical care. Thus, the aim of this review is to study the evolution of this practice from its beginning until nowadays. Furthermore, we have analyzed a number of implementation programs performed in countries of Europe, the United States and Latin America, focusing on clinical, economical and humanistic outcomes, and also, on the current concept of drug therapy problems (DTP) considered as failures in drug therapy. We conclude that the positive outcomes obtained with different programs of pharmaceutical care are making a beneficial change in patients' health but still more research projects should be conducted to support this change.     

Cultural Competency in Health Care and Its Implications for Pharmacy

As the United States becomes more diverse, a patient's cultural influences on health outcomes and health care decision-making and delivery need to be considered. Cultural influences affect a patient's decision to take drug therapy and concomitant alternative therapies. Seven components have been identified to improve culturally competent care in a variety of practice sites. The first component to developing culturally competent practices involves the analysis of self and system attitudes and practices toward various cultures. In the second component, health care providers should increase their knowledge about the cultures they serve through different patient assessment techniques, readings, and community activities. The third component involves improving cross-cultural communication by being aware of differences in social norms, assessing health literacy, using interpreters, knowing another language, and using bilingual patient education materials. In the fourth component, pharmaceutical care plans should accommodate cultural preferences such as the use of herbs, spiritual healers, and additional family decision-makers. Therapeutic plans should be negotiated between patient and provider to optimize outcomes. The fifth component discusses health care provider and system involvement in the community through health fairs, ethnic festival participation, and communication with cultural decision-makers to help provide culturally competent care by fostering communication ties. In the sixth component, knowing and following regulations such as the federal Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services and the Joint Commission standards for organizational cultural competency can help enhance care for patients from various cultures. In the last component, quality assurance assessments of procedures to improve care for various diverse cultures should be conducted, with findings (in terms of strengths and areas of improvements) shared with other providers and systems. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in a variety of systems and practices can improve care to patients with differing cultures by using these seven components to enhance culturally competent care.     

Integration of community pharmacy in primary health care: The challenge

Community pharmacies and pharmacists predominantly operate in a retail environment independently of other health care providers, and they are not often viewed as an integral member of the healthcare team. Thus, they remain overlooked or excluded during integration processes of health care systems. At the same time, there are calls by the profession at national and international levels for community pharmacy to be integrated within primary care systems. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have further stimulated this desire. When pressing for integration, various terms, such as integration, integrated care, or interprofessional collaboration, are used in an interchangeable manner leading to lack of clarity, ambiguity and confusion for health care policy makers, planners, and other healthcare professionals. The literature was reviewed to identify critical components for community pharmacy to consider for integration. From the five selected articles describing integration of community pharmacies, four different constructs were identified: consensus, connectivity, communication and trust. The integration of community pharmacy into the health system may translate into better access for patients to primary care services, contribute to cost effectiveness, and promulgate the sustainability of the system. However significant political, economic, social, and practice change would be required by all stakeholders. Further research is needed to underpin a consensus for a definition, the type of integration, and the model optimally suited to integrate community pharmacy into primary care. These models, specific and adaptable to each national health care system and political environment, would need to be consensus-based by principal stakeholders to overcome a variety of barriers, including government resistance. Mere calls or demands by the pharmaceutical profession, although laudable, will not be sufficient to overcome the historical, cultural, and economic challenges.     

Pharmaceutical management strategies of industrialized countries

Health care costs as a percentage of the gross national product have been increasing in most industrialized countries. As part of the trend, pharmaceutical expenditures also have been rising. In many countries, pharmaceutical costs are the largest single health care expenditure. In an effort to contain rising costs, governments are exploring a variety of pharmaceutical management strategies. These include price controls, restrictive formularies, budget caps, profit controls, and practitioner education.     

European barriers to the implementation of pharmaceutical care

Objective — To establish the perceived barriers to the implementation of pharmaceutical care into community pharmacy practice in different European countries and the relative importance of these barriers. Method — Structured interviews with representatives from national pharmacists' organisations or pharmaceutical care researchers from 11 European countries known to be actively attempting to implement pharmaceutical care. Respondents were asked to consider a list of 25 potential barriers to pharmaceutical care and to score the relative importance of each for their own country. Data were analysed to produce a European overview of barriers as well as inter‐country comparisons. Key findings — Lack of time and lack of money are major barriers for the implementation of pharmaceutical care in European countries. Many other barriers were identified, but their impact on the implementation of pharmaceutical care seems to differ markedly over Europe. No correlation was found between money and time as barriers. Some clusters of countries were identified with similar barrier patterns. Conclusion — Time and money are perceived to be major both in absolute and relative rankings. The European pharmaceutical associations need to pay attention to remuneration issues before attempting to implement pharmaceutical care in their countries. The results also show that pharmaceutical organisations need to work continuously to change attitudes among pharmacists. Important barriers have also been identified in the educational domain and changes in the European curriculae for pharmacy are therefore needed. Co‐operation between some countries on these issues would appear to be useful.     

Barriers and facilitators experienced by migrants and refugees when accessing pharmaceutical care: A scoping review

BackgroundPharmacists in the community are often among the first health professionals encountered by new arrivals. Their accessibility and the longevity of the relationship gives pharmacy staff unique opportunities to work with migrants and refugees to meet their health needs. While the language, cultural and health literacy barriers that cause poorer health outcomes are well documented in medical literature, there is a need to validate the barriers to accessing pharmaceutical care and to identify facilitators for efficient care in the migrant/refugee patient-pharmacy staff interaction.ObjectiveThe purpose of this scoping review was to investigate the barriers and facilitators that migrant and refugee populations experience when accessing pharmaceutical care in host countries.MethodsA comprehensive search of Medline, Emcare on Ovid, CINAHL and SCOPUS databases, guided by the PRISMA-ScR statement, was undertaken to identify the original research published in English between 1990 and December 2021. The studies were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.ResultsA total of 52 articles from around the world were included in this review. The studies revealed that the barriers to migrants and refugees accessing pharmaceutical care are well documented and include language, health literacy, unfamiliarity with health systems, and cultural beliefs and practises. Empirical evidence was less robust for facilitators, but suggested strategies included improvement of communication, medication review, community education and relationship building.ConclusionsWhile barriers experienced are known, there is a lack of evidence for facilitators for provision of pharmaceutical care to refugees and migrants and poor uptake of available tools and resources. There is a need for further research to identify facilitators that are effective in improving access to pharmaceutical care and practical for implementation by pharmacies..     

Drawing the alcoholic out of his isolation

Alcohol is by far the most frequent addiction across industrial countries. Associated with unrest, rejection and other negative counter-attitudes, alcohol dependence often confines the patient to isolation. The objective of this article is to describe potential obstacles to access to health care, the strategies enabling this access and finally different programs and therapeutic modalities of a long-term treatment. This article focuses on these issues in term of level of intervention.     

药学监护:医院药学未来发展的趋势

本文提出药学监护(Pharmaceutical Care)是我国医院药学未来发展的趋势.药学技能和知识的巨大发展给了药师一个历史性机遇即对药物治疗转归分担应承担的责任.药师应具备提高药物治疗转归(Outcomes)的技能、知识和为达到这一目标所具备的责任感.药学监护不只是关心提供服务的行为本身,而更应关注患者的生命质量.药师与其他医务人员平等地工作以保证达到药物治疗目标,避免发生药源性疾病,或能尽快发现和及时解决已发生的药源性疾病.通过政府机构、药学院校和药师个人的共同努力,才能将有必要实施药学监护转变为患者、保险公司、政府卫生组织对药学监护的直接需求.本文从药学监护的起源、定义(正确理解“监护”;为治疗转归负责;功能、技巧和模式)、药师的能力、市场需求和实施药学监护等方面来把握药学监护的内涵.     

Studying and evaluating pharmaceutical policy—becoming a part of the policy and consultative process

In this last article in the series the authors focus on the issue of researching and evaluating pharmaceutical policy. The past five articles made an argument for why pharmaceutical policy is important and why it is different from health policy. The evidence base needed for pharmaceutical policymaking is also somewhat specialized in relation to health policy. Taking these differences into consideration the authors provide their definition of pharmaceutical policy. The knowledge base for good pharmaceutical policymaking needs to be broad and include approaches and methodologies ranging from the highly quantitative and experimental to the purely qualitative. Other policy questions such as those concerned with rational use of medicines and economics illustrate that pharmaceutical policy needs more varied approaches than randomized clinical trials alone can provide. The importance of gaining a thorough overview and understanding of the available design and methodological options for policy analysis is emphasized. Research into pharmaceutical policy has many commonalities with evaluation and policy analysis. Some of the main pitfalls that policymakers, researchers and analysts can fall into when formulating and evaluating pharmaceutical policy are discussed and include: using too narrow evaluation questions; choosing inappropriate methods/designs; and the problem of bias and self-censorship. The␣authors conclude this series by advocating a strong focus on research and an international evaluation culture around pharmaceutical policy. They emphasize the importance of pharmaceutical specialists’ (i.e., pharmacists’) involvement in pharmaceutical policy analysis and the policy consultative process.     

Defining Patient Centric Pharmaceutical Drug Product Design

The term “patient centered,” “patient centric,” or “patient centricity” is increasingly used in the scientific literature in a wide variety of contexts. Generally, patient centric medicines are recognized as an essential contributor to healthy aging and the overall patient’s quality of life and life expectancy. Besides the selection of the appropriate type of drug substance and strength for a particular indication in a particular patient, due attention must be paid that the pharmaceutical drug product design is also adequately addressing the particular patient’s needs, i.e., assuring adequate patient adherence and the anticipate drug safety and effectiveness. Relevant pharmaceutical design aspects may e.g., involve the selection of the route of administration, the tablet size and shape, the ease of opening the package, the ability to read the user instruction, or the ability to follow the recommended (in-use) storage conditions. Currently, a harmonized definition on patient centric drug development/design has not yet been established. To stimulate scientific research and discussions and the consistent interpretation of test results, it is essential that such a definition is established. We have developed a first draft definition through various rounds of discussions within an interdisciplinary AAPS focus group of experts. This publication summarizes the outcomes and is intended to stimulate further discussions with all stakeholders towards a common definition of patient centric pharmaceutical drug product design that is useable across all disciplines involved.     

The Decade of the Brain Initiative and Health Care Reform: Irreconcilable Differences?

While the US initiatives in health care reform continue to be the subject of debate and have yet to become law, the free market system has already enacted a major part of health cost containment. Major pharmaceutical companies including Merck, Pfizer and SmithKline Beecham have invested in managed care organisations with, in the case of Merck, dramatic changes in corporate management reflecting the new market place for pharmaceuticals. The cost effective contribution of drugs to the total expense of health care in the US continues to be ignored as the pharmaceutical industry has been singled out for special consideration by various congressional committees. The impact on the discovery of new therapeutic entities remains uncertain although many major companies have downsized and reorganised their research operations in the past year. Despite these approaches to streamlining and cost cutting, the cost and risk of advancing compounds into the clinic remains expensive and will become even more so as the disease entities being studied reflect chronic situations with benefits only being demonstrable after many years of clinical trials. Thus, the clinical trial endpoints for a new antibiotic remain relatively straightforward as compared to those involved in assessing the efficacy of a compound for the treatment of atherosclerosis, osteoporosis or Alzheimer's Disease. This is especially true in the area of CNS drug entities where knowledge related to disease aetiology and brain function is at an early stage. Thus, there continues to be an even greater need to advance compounds into the clinic to assess efficacy and test mechanism-based disease hypotheses. This is an expensive and very high risk endeavour that may not be compatible with the changing environment in health care that is impacting the risk assessment process in drug discovery and development.     

Cardiotoxic effects of antihistamines: from basics to clinics (...and back)

Drug-induced arrhythmias, particularly those caused by a prolonged QT interval, have become a critical safety issue for compound selection during development by pharmaceutical companies and for health care regulators. The last two decades have witnessed enormous progress in the definition of the clinical conditions that facilitate the occurrence of such serious adverse effects, of its molecular basis, and in the preclinical strategies aimed at early identification of the cardiotoxic liability of compounds undergoing investigation or already used in the clinic. Moreover, despite the fact that acquired factors play an obvious role in drug-induced arrhythmias, it has become evident that the disease is often manifested upon the interaction of strong environmental stressors with specific genetic determinants of the affected individuals; in that sense, few examples can illustrate the existing interaction between acquired and genetic factors in disease manifestation better than drug-induced arrhythmogenesis. Progress in this field has been mainly driven by a strong interaction among various disciplines, including medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, electrophysiology, molecular genetics, and clinical cardiology; such an interdisciplinary approach has often generated unexpected discoveries of great clinical value, allowing clinicians to drive drug selection toward compounds of proven efficacy and safety. Historically, studies on antihistamines have paved the way for much of our current understanding of the mechanisms and problems associated with QT prolongation and drug-induced arrhythmogenesis; therefore, in this perspective, we will attempt to summarize how basic research studies have helped the interpretation of clinically relevant phenomena (from basics to clinics...) and how this information has prompted new emphasis in preclinical studies aimed at predicting the cardiotoxic potential of compounds (...and back). The current availability of several strategies provided with great predictive potential, together with an increased awareness of physicians, pharmaceutical industries, and health care regulators to this potentially serious cardiovascular side effect, has significantly decreased the risk associated with drug-induced arrhythmias caused by drugs newly introduced into the market; nevertheless, given the large number of cases of QT prolongation still occurring during treatment with a wide variety of congeners, it seems appropriate to review the issue of the cardiotoxic actions of antihistamines, as a better comprehension of the underlying mechanisms and risk factors is likely to contribute to the improvement of the risk/benefit ratio for pharmacological treatment in several therapeutic areas.     

European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) glossary of scientific terms: a tool for standardizing scientific jargon

Introduction: This glossary is a tool for clinicians who have to confront topics in which medical, scientific and technical jargon is closely linked. It provides definitions for the key concepts and terms of pharmaceutical care, clinical pharmacy, and research in the health care system in clinical settings. It includes items that are not particularly technical, but that should be part of the know-how of staff working in medical and scientific fields. In fact, the glossary can also help clinical technicians who want to understand the precise definition of scientific terms, which often do not coincide with the ones used in the practice setting. Principal Goals and Objectives: The aim of this glossary is to aid in the development of more standardized and established terminology for clinical pharmacy, facilitate communication among different stakeholders and, ultimately, contribute to a higher-quality health care system. Results: The glossary contains 165 definitions of concepts and principles in clinical pharmacy, and terms widely used in this field. The criteria for the inclusion of terms were specific applications in health promotion, or terms used in other fields that have a specific meaning or application when used in reference to clinical activity. Conclusions: The glossary arose from the need to standardize terminology in the scientific field. It was not intended as a comprehensive listing that would include all medical terms, but as a useful tool for clinical pharmacists working in this area, and for users who occasionally encounter unusual, often hard to understand, terminology.     

Pharmacoeconomics and therapeutic drug monitoring.

The ever increasing rate of inflation and the reality that resources for medical care are limited has led to significant changes in the reimbursement for health care services. These influences have convinced health care policy makers to closely evaluate innovative health services in terms of the benefits and costs. New pharmaceutical services must be economically justified in order to exist in the future. This is crucial to the expansion and adoption of pharmaceutical services.Application of economic evaluations is not new to the health care sector. Until recently, there were no incentives to transfer this interest into widespread use. As health care expenditures have escalated over the past two decades, the number of applications of these techniques has increased. Especially significant are costbenefit and costeffectiveness evaluations of medical practice, pharmaceuticals, and other health care technologies.Pharmacoeconomic analysis is an important tool to assist in the evaluation of new pharmaceutical services and technologies. Essentially, economic analytical methods are used to weigh the positive and negative consequences of alternative courses of action. The usefulness of pharmacoeconomic analyses is in resource allocation, with the purpose of achieving the highest return on investment or accomplishing a given objective in the least costly manner. Unfortunately, very few pharmacy programs have been evaluated using pharmacoeconomic techniques. The purpose of this article is to present various methods to assess the economic value of therapeutic drug monitoring services in society and for specific patient populations. Additionally, this article will review the previous attempts and various issues surrounding the economic justification of therapeutic drug monitoring.     

Pharmacovigilance in pharmacy practice

Although rigorous clinical studies are conducted on drugs before they become available to the patient, some side effects are often only detected after marketing. It is the role of pharmacovigilance to identify these effects. Notification of adverse reactions by health professionals and pharmaceutical companies contribute to a better understanding of the safety profile of a drug and thus to better care for patients. As a care provider and in the context of pharmaceutical care, the pharmacist has a responsibility and an active role in monitoring the safe use of medicines. This article deals with the organization of pharmacovigilance in Belgium and some practical aspects     

Understanding medical ethics

Moral thinking is embedded within cultures, and we use ethics all the time in our dealings with one another. Many functioning communities tend to share some values that reflect a particular view of the importance of human life in quantity and quality. Rights and duties form an interconnected network of obligations that protect the security of individuals and groups. In health care, the motives and virtues of practitioners are important sources of the determination to provide care for the ill within the limits of resource constraints. Ethics and the law have similarities, but also significant differences that may cause tension between the two systems. Health care is morally grounded, and provides a bulwark against the widespread fear of disease and suffering. The way in which health care is delivered depends on both national wealth and community values. Ethical problems can be seen as dilemmas, in which there are conflicting values. Modern ethical thinking in health is complicated by the need to consider the values and interests of many stakeholders--patients, health care workers, families, politicians, administrators, health bureaucrats and many others. There are ways of ethical thinking that take account of these often countervailing interests. No universally 'right' answers can be specified. The mode and the thoroughness of ethical consideration, and the careful consideration of local community values, will help to assure that we make the best possible decisions for the time and place.     

国外药学监护应用进展及启示

药学监护是医院药学的发展趋势.本文介绍了药学监护在国外各科室的应用情况以及药学信息在药学监护中的作用,分析了药学监护在发展中存在的问题,并对国外药学监护对我国的启示进行了讨论.     

新冠肺炎疫情背景下各国药学服务研究可视化分析

目的:系统梳理新冠疫情期间国内外药学服务领域文献,对比国内外研究方向与研究热点,以期为我国药学服务的发展提供借鉴。方法:以“药学服务”“新冠肺炎”为主题词,检索2019年12月至2022年3月Web of science(WoS)核心数据库、PubMed数据库以及中国知网、万方中国学术期刊数据库、维普中文科技期刊数据库中有关新冠疫情期间国内外药学服务的研究文献,利用CiteSpace 5.8.R3软件进行可视化分析。结果:(1)国内纳入547篇文献,国际纳入407篇文献。美国、沙特阿拉伯、中国是发文最多的国家。国内发文最多的机构是华中科技大学同济医学院附属同济医院,国外发文最多的机构是Marmara University。(2)国内排名前3的聚类类别为：安全性、互联网、诊疗方案,国际排名前3的关键词聚类类别分别为：药剂师、社区药房、心理健康。(3)国内排名前3的突现词为：互联网、门诊药房以及药学门诊,国际的突现词有：医院药房服务、药学服务及社区药房。结论:国内外共同的研究方向是用药的安全与有效性、药物供应,国内更侧重患者的诊疗方案,国际以药房管理、服务与社区药剂师为主。国内药学服务多面...