Healthcare in Transition:Threat or Opportunity for Pharmaceutical Wholesalers in Europe


Book Description

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: Tradition and Change: Many of the well established Western European pharmaceutical wholesalers are companies with strong local traditions and roots dating back for several decades and more. GEHE Pharma Handel GmbH, one of the top pharmaceutical wholesalers in Germany, was celebrating its 175th birthday in 2010. AAH Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the UK s leading distributor of pharmaceutical and healthcare products, was established in 1923, and Herba Chemosan Apotheker-AG, Austria s largest pharmaceutical service and trading company, was established in 1916 as a cooperative from pharmacists for pharmacists. But having years to add does not equal getting old, as we will see in the course of this study. The times of transformation free eras have long gone, stability is not the norm anymore and the challenges being faced today are completely different. The globalisation of markets and competition has forced and still is forcing firms to make dramatic improvements not only to compete and prosper but also to merely survive . For many reasons, which will be detailed throughout this study, pharmaceutical wholesalers across Europe have been facing the need for improvements to secure sustainability and growth. In addition, there has been significant consolidation of pharmaceutical wholesalers in Europe affecting not only the distribution of market share but also the strategic orientation of the surviving firms . Healthcare in Transition: Not only within the European Union but also across the entire OECD countries, healthcare is one of the largest industries with a dominant position in terms of job creation and a dynamic force in terms of innovation. Despite significant achievements in the health status of populations, concerns prevail on how resources are used in healthcare and how to guarantee an efficient and effective use of modern medicine. The weight of healthcare expenses in relation to GDP has increased the demand to harmonise internationally different definitions and improve the cross-national comparability of data on healthcare expenses. Consequently, the OECD has developed the System of Health Accounts . This manual provides a common framework and supports the international comparison of healthcare data across countries and over time. A combination of medical progress, demographic changes and shifting social expectations are the major drivers of increasing health expenditures in developed countries. Within the EU-15, [...]




Threats and Opportunities for European Pharmaceutical Wholesalers in a Changing Healthcare Environment


Book Description

The aim of this book is to identify the major drivers of change within the European healthcare systems and to evaluate risks and opportunities confronting pharmaceutical full-line wholesalers. These businesses are the most important link between pharmaceutical manufacturing and the point of sale; providing one-stop-shopping for healthcare professionals across Europe. While on the one hand European governments are interested to ensure broad access to healthcare provision for the general public with a high level of quality, they are on the other hand concerned with limiting cost increases and with the need to cap healthcare spending. In addition, the pharmaceutical industry faces a strong need to cut costs by outsourcing non-core activities and establishing new routes to the customer, often bypassing the established supply chain. Changing healthcare environments across Europe ask for new strategies of pharmaceutical wholesalers to be fit for the future. This book deals with the advantages that can be derived from the changing landscape of healthcare provision. Aging populations, markets in transition, outsourcing activities of manufacturers and legal changes provide the potential to turn threats into opportunities and further develop the business model of pharmaceutical wholesaling. Even with profound structural changes in healthcare systems, pharmaceutical wholesalers are provided with significant potential to remain a vital part of the pharmaceutical supply chain and to prosper in the future.




Health Policy and European Union Enlargement


Book Description

While there may be consensus on the broader issues of the core objectives of the health care system, expectations differ between EU countries, and European national policy-makers. This book seeks firstly to assess the impact of the enlargement process and then to analyse the challenges that lie ahead in the field of health and health policy.




The Changing Economics of Medical Technology


Book Description

Americans praise medical technology for saving lives and improving health. Yet, new technology is often cited as a key factor in skyrocketing medical costs. This volume, second in the Medical Innovation at the Crossroads series, examines how economic incentives for innovation are changing and what that means for the future of health care. Up-to-date with a wide variety of examples and case studies, this book explores how payment, patent, and regulatory policiesâ€"as well as the involvement of numerous government agenciesâ€"affect the introduction and use of new pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and surgical procedures. The volume also includes detailed comparisons of policies and patterns of technological innovation in Western Europe and Japan. This fact-filled and practical book will be of interest to economists, policymakers, health administrators, health care practitioners, and the concerned public.




Saving Lives, Buying Time


Book Description

For more than 50 years, low-cost antimalarial drugs silently saved millions of lives and cured billions of debilitating infections. Today, however, these drugs no longer work against the deadliest form of malaria that exists throughout the world. Malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africaâ€"currently just over one million per yearâ€"are rising because of increased resistance to the old, inexpensive drugs. Although effective new drugs called "artemisinins" are available, they are unaffordable for the majority of the affected population, even at a cost of one dollar per course. Saving Lives, Buying Time: Economics of Malaria Drugs in an Age of Resistance examines the history of malaria treatments, provides an overview of the current drug crisis, and offers recommendations on maximizing access to and effectiveness of antimalarial drugs. The book finds that most people in endemic countries will not have access to currently effective combination treatments, which should include an artemisinin, without financing from the global community. Without funding for effective treatment, malaria mortality could double over the next 10 to 20 years and transmission will intensify.




Communities in Action


Book Description

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.




Making Medicines Affordable


Book Description

Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.




Assuring the Quality of Health Care in the European Union


Book Description

People have always travelled within Europe for work and leisure, although never before with the current intensity. Now, however, they are travelling for many other reasons, including the quest for key services such as health care. Whatever the reason for travelling, one question they ask is "If I fall ill, will the health care I receive be of a high standard?" This book examines, for the first time, the systems that have been put in place in all of the European Union's 27 Member States. The picture it paints is mixed. Some have well developed systems, setting standards based on the best available evidence, monitoring the care provided, and taking action where it falls short. Others need to overcome significant obstacles.




The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century


Book Description

The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.




Organization and Financing of Public Health Services in Europe


Book Description

What are public health services? Countries across Europe understand what they are or what they should include differently. This study describes the experiences of nine countries detailing the ways they have opted to organize and finance public health services and train and employ their public health workforce. It covers England France Germany Italy the Netherlands Slovenia Sweden Poland and the Republic of Moldova and aims to give insights into current practice that will support decision-makers in their efforts to strengthen public health capacities and services. Each country chapter captures the historical background of public health services and the context in which they operate; sets out the main organizational structures; assesses the sources of public health financing and how it is allocated; explains the training and employment of the public health workforce; and analyses existing frameworks for quality and performance assessment. The study reveals a wide range of experience and variation across Europe and clearly illustrates two fundamentally different approaches to public health services: integration with curative health services (as in Slovenia or Sweden) or organization and provision through a separate parallel structure (Republic of Moldova). The case studies explore the context that explain this divergence and its implications. This study is the result of close collaboration between the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Regional Office for Europe Division of Health Systems and Public Health. It accompanies two other Observatory publications Organization and financing of public health services in Europe and The role of public health organizations in addressing public health problems in Europe: the case of obesity alcohol and antimicrobial resistance (both forthcoming).