OUTGOING POLISH GOVERNMENT RECOMMENDS HEALTH REFORMS

The outgoing Polish government has made a number of recommendations regarding reform of the medical reimbursement scheme in the country, in a bid to make the system more efficient and cut expenditure.

Currently, there are five lists of reimbursable medicines in the country. Under the proposals, this number would be cut to two. One of these lists would be for general use, containing the majority of currently reimbursed medicines, and mainly comprising generics. The second list would be for specialist use and would contain a small number of expensive and innovative drugs -- predominately hi-tech, patented imports. However, industry sources have complained that these specialist products are limited to a few thousand patients, and are admitted to the reimbursement system only at the health minister's discretion.

Further, the departing government has called for a three-level system to be introduced for patient co-payments. Currently the Polish co-payment ratio is one of the highest in Europe, at some 55% for prescription drugs. If the new measures are adopted, the public would be charged a fixed price for the drug, or would contribute 30% or 50% of the medicine's value, depending on the product.

Other suggestions include the creation of a reimbursement committee to advise the Ministry of Health. The committee's main task would be to review reimbursement applications and make recommendations to the health minister. In tandem with this, the complex drug registration process would be simplified, with a single act replacing the large number of regulations currently in place.