Look beyond budgets to the broader benefits

Impact of Drug Plan Management Policies in Canada: A Systematic Review

Background/objective:

In Canada, pharmaceutical expenditures require an increasing proportion of total health care dollars. Drug plan managers use various policies to manage medication use and control costs, but these policies can have unintended consequences. The objective of this systematic review is to evaluate the impact of drug policies on economic, clinical and humanistic (quality of life or satisfaction) outcomes.

Methods:

Articles in which the primary objective was to evaluate the impact of a drug policy tool or technique in Canada and that measured one or more economic, clinical or humanistic outcomes were considered for inclusion. Studies were excluded if they were based in institutions or not published in peer-reviewed journals. The search process included searching 9 electronic databases, searching the reference lists of identified articles and working papers and contacting drug policy researchers. Studies were assessed for quality and suitability for meta-analysis. We performed a qualitative synthesis of the study design, study sample and outcomes.

Results:

Thirty-five articles satisfied the inclusion criteria. Most ( n= 25, 71%) determined that drug policies reduced the costs, utilization or both of the studied drug therapy. Only 13 studies (37%) measured the impact of the drug policy on the cost or utilization of medical care, and the impact of the policy was favourable in only 4 of these cases. Six studies (17%) evaluated the impact of the policy on clinical outcomes; none reported a favourable impact. No studies evaluated the impact of the drug policy on humanistic outcomes.

Discussion:

Although the drug policies in most of the studies included in this systematic review did achieve the desired goal of reducing drug costs, utilization or both, the impact on other outcomes was seldom examined. In the 6 studies in which clinical outcomes were included in the evaluation framework, the impact was inconclusive. Humanistic outcomes have been completely excluded from evaluations to date.