Peking University Reports Findings in Cancer (The impact of government reimbursement negotiation on targeted anticancer medicines use and cost in China: A cohort study based on national health insurance data): Cancer

2023 AUG 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Cancer is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Beijing, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “High prices of targeted anticancer medicines (TAMs) result in financial toxicity for patients and the health insurance system. How national price negotiation and reimbursement policy affect the accessibility of TAMs for cancer patients remains unknown.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Peking University, “In this population-based cohort study, we used national health insurance claims data in 2017 and identified adult patients with cancer diagnoses for which price-negotiated TAMs were indicated. We estimated the half-month prevalence of price-negotiated TAMs use before and after the policy implementation in September 2017. We calculated direct medical costs, out-of-pocket (OOP) costs, and the proportion of OOP cost for each cancer patient to measure their financial burden attributable to TAMs use. We performed segmented linear and multivariable logistic regression to analyse the policy impact. We included 39 391 of a total 118 655 cancer beneficiaries. After September 2017, the prevalence of price-negotiated TAMs use increased from 1.4%-2.1% to 2.9%-3.1% (P = 0.005); TAMs users’ daily medical costs increased from US$261.3 to US$292.5 (P < 0.001), while median daily OOP costs (US$68.2 vs US$65.7; P = 0.134) and OOP costs as a proportion of daily medical costs persisted (28.5% vs 28.5%; P = 0.995). Compared with resident beneficiaries, the relative probability of urban employee beneficiaries on TAMs uses decreased after the policy (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.4 vs aOR = 2.2). The government price negotiation and reimbursement policy improved patient access to TAMs and narrowed disparities among insurance schemes.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “China’s approach to promoting the affordability of expensive medicines provides valuable experience for health policy decision-makers.”

For more information on this research see: The impact of government reimbursement negotiation on targeted anticancer medicines use and cost in China: A cohort study based on national health insurance data. Journal of Global Health, 2023;13:04083. Journal of Global Health can be contacted at: Int Soc Global Health, Caledonian Exchange, 19A Canning St, Edinburgh, Lothian, England.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Yichen Zhang, Dept. of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Yu Yang, Anita K. Wagner, Huangqianyu Li, Luwen Shi and Xiaodong Guan.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Global Health is: Int Soc Global Health, Caledonian Exchange, 19A Canning St, Edinburgh, Lothian, England.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)