Assessing the effectiveness of the national catalog of medicine prices and determining priority areas for improvement

Анотація

In the context of reforming the healthcare system, rising costs of pharmacotherapy, and the necessity of effective procurement management, tools that provide access to up-to-date, standardized, and comparable information on pharmaceutical prices are of particular importance. One such tool is the National catalog of medicine prices, the use of which requires a comprehensive assessment. The aim of the study was to analyze the functioning of the National catalog of medicine prices, identify problems, and determine areas for its improvement based on a survey of experts. The study was conducted using a systematic approach that combined regulatory, analytical, statistical, and sociological methods. The empirical basis consisted of regulatory acts, official documents, analytical materials, statistical data, and the results of a survey of 112 respondents representing key segments of the pharmaceutical market and the healthcare system of Ukraine. Results showed a high level of awareness among respondents regarding the National catalog of medicine prices (88.4%); however, the level of its practical use remains low: only about a quarter of those surveyed use the catalog regularly, 23.2% use it periodically, 16.1% use it rarely, while 32.1% do not use it at all. The survey results indicate a significant gap between awareness of the tool and its real-life use. The main objectives of using the catalog are price monitoring and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements; a less common but promising area is strategic planning and procurement optimization. Key challenges identified include limited functionality, technical difficulties, the complexity of searching for information, and poor integration into management processes. The National catalog of medicine prices is an important tool of state regulation with great potential for increasing transparency, price control, and information-analytical support for management decisions. Its efficient use is limited by functional, technical, and organizational barriers. The identified gap between high awareness and low usage indicates that the catalog is insufficiently adapted to user needs. Improving its effectiveness requires refining the structure and interface, expanding analytical capabilities, technical optimization, simplifying data search, and strengthening integration into the pharmaceutical procurement management system.

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