E-drug: Managed Care and Prescription Drugs, Please help us!
---------------------------------------------
Can you help us out???
We are two Management Sciences for Health (MSH) employees who are
conducting a review of the effects of managed care and provider
reimbursement mechanisms on antimicrobial drug use in developing
countries.
We would be interested in any contribution you might have to this
research initiative.
We are interested in knowing how supply side interventions such as
provider payment mechanisms and tools of managed care impact on
prescribing behavior and on antimicrobial drug use. We are using a
broad definition of managed care that incorporates the many forms of
integration of financing and delivery of health services that have een
implemented throughout the world.
We would appreciate recommendations of studies that you know about.
We are primarily focused on studies from developing countries, but
will also be interested in studies from developed countries. This
review will attempt to identify lessons that should be considered when
developing countries introduce health care reforms that incorporate
principles of managed care and changed mechanisms to reimburse
providers. For example, we wish to address the following for both the
public and private sectors:
1. Does shifting financial risk onto health plans and providers
result in more/less rational prescription of antimicrobials?
2. Have managed care tools (such as drug utilization review, disease
management, guidelines, formularies) resulted in more
appropriate/rational antimicrobial drug prescription/use?
3. What role does the government or major purchasers (employers,
GP-fundholders, sickness funds) play to ensure that managed care plans
and providers prescribe appropriately?
We will be systematically reviewing all relevant published and
unpublished studies that we can get our hands on.
If you are aware of any studies (published or unpublished) which might
help us in our review, or if you have any insights into this area of
research, we would be grateful if you would contact us at:
Alix Regalia and Rena Eichler
Management Sciences for Health, Suite 710
1515 Wilson Blvd, Arlington VA 22209
Tel: (703) 524 6575 Fax: (703) 524 7898
Email: Aregalia@msh.org
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.