eAlert Thu, 04/13/2006 - 12:00 d3755299-b5d9-4d4d-b157-c11bd193b856

<p>Decision-makers in government and the health care industry face difficult choices when determining which prescription drugs will be covered by health plans. To assist them in such decisions, many countries have centralized programs that perform clinical and economic assessments of drugs based on scientific and financial evidence.<br><br>A Fund-supported <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=21655&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Fpublications%2Fpublications%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D366574%26%23doc366574">article</a> in <em>Health Affairs</em> reviews these assessment processes in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom to explore the various approaches, the differences in resulting drug coverage and costs, and effective components of each program. Successful processes, say the authors, employ scientifically rigorous reviews, clearly separate and define roles to avoid conflicts of interest, and provide stakeholders, like drug manufacturers and the public, with comprehensible information about the decision-making process.</p>

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2006/apr/analyzing-drug-coverage-review-processes-across-countries