Evidence on the effectiveness of policies promoting price transparency -: A systematic review

Iris R. Joosse; David Tordrup; Julie Glanville; Eleanor Kotas; Aukje K. Mantel-Teeuwisse; Hendrika A. van den Ham

doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.11.002

Evidence on the effectiveness of policies promoting price transparency -: A systematic review

Iris R. Joosse, David Tordrup, Julie Glanville, Eleanor Kotas, Aukje K. Mantel-Teeuwisse, Hendrika A. van den Ham^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Policies promoting price transparency may be an important approach to control medicine prices and achieve better access to medicines. As part of a wider review, we aimed to systematically determine whether policies promoting price transparency are effective in managing the prices of pharmaceutical products. We searched for studies published between January 1, 2004 and October 10, 2019, comparing policies promoting price transparency against other interventions or a counterfactual. Eligible study designs included randomized trials, and non-randomized or quasi-experimental studies such as interrupted time-series (ITS), repeated measures (RM), and controlled before-after studies. Studies were eligible if they included at least one of the following outcomes: price (or expenditure as a proxy for price and volume), volume, availability or affordability of pharmaceutical products. The quality of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE methodology. A total of 32011 records were retrieved, two of which were eligible for inclusion. Although based on evidence from a single study, public disclosure of medicine prices may be effective in reducing prices of medicines short-term, with benefits possibly sustained long-term. Evidence on the impact of a cost-feedback approach to prescribers was inconclusive. No evidence was found for impact on the outcomes volume, availability or affordability. The overall lack of evidence on policies promoting price transparency is a clear call for further research.

Original language	English
Article number	104681
Number of pages	8
Journal	Health Policy
Volume	134
Early online date	8 Nov 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.11.002
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the members of the Guideline Development Group (GDG) and the World Health Organization (WHO) secretariat and its advisors for providing technical support while establishing the research protocol: Kiu Tay-Teo, Fatima Suleman, Lisa Bero, Sabine Vogler. Additionally, Zaheer Babar, Jaime Espin and Kalipso Chalkidou contributed with constructive remarks on an early draft of the protocol and the technical report. Colleagues at York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) who contributed to the extensive search, document management and screening process include Ross Birtles, Mick Arber, Chris Bartlett, and James Mahon. We thank Lynn Al-Tayara (LT) for her role in extracting data and are grateful to the other members of our systematic review team: Christine Leopold (CL), Lizanne Arnoldy, Tom Buijs (TB) and Daniela Moye Holz.

Funding Information:
This systematic review was commissioned and funded by the World Health Organization [HQ/EMP/2019/002, 2019] under a grant from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). The review was part of the process for developing the 2020 WHO Guideline on Country Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies. The WHO secretariat and its advisors provided technical support for formulating the review protocol, performing specific searches on government websites, and translating several non-English publications. WHO, its advisors and DFID had no role in data analysis or interpretation. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the WHO or DFID .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Funding

The authors are grateful to the members of the Guideline Development Group (GDG) and the World Health Organization (WHO) secretariat and its advisors for providing technical support while establishing the research protocol: Kiu Tay-Teo, Fatima Suleman, Lisa Bero, Sabine Vogler. Additionally, Zaheer Babar, Jaime Espin and Kalipso Chalkidou contributed with constructive remarks on an early draft of the protocol and the technical report. Colleagues at York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) who contributed to the extensive search, document management and screening process include Ross Birtles, Mick Arber, Chris Bartlett, and James Mahon. We thank Lynn Al-Tayara (LT) for her role in extracting data and are grateful to the other members of our systematic review team: Christine Leopold (CL), Lizanne Arnoldy, Tom Buijs (TB) and Daniela Moye Holz. This systematic review was commissioned and funded by the World Health Organization [HQ/EMP/2019/002, 2019] under a grant from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). The review was part of the process for developing the 2020 WHO Guideline on Country Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies. The WHO secretariat and its advisors provided technical support for formulating the review protocol, performing specific searches on government websites, and translating several non-English publications. WHO, its advisors and DFID had no role in data analysis or interpretation. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the WHO or DFID .

Keywords

Medicine prices
Price transparency
Pricing policy
Systematic review

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.11.002Licence: CC BY

1-s2.0-S0168851022002822-mainFinal published version, 768 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Evidence on the effectiveness of policies promoting price transparency -: A systematic review",

abstract = "Policies promoting price transparency may be an important approach to control medicine prices and achieve better access to medicines. As part of a wider review, we aimed to systematically determine whether policies promoting price transparency are effective in managing the prices of pharmaceutical products. We searched for studies published between January 1, 2004 and October 10, 2019, comparing policies promoting price transparency against other interventions or a counterfactual. Eligible study designs included randomized trials, and non-randomized or quasi-experimental studies such as interrupted time-series (ITS), repeated measures (RM), and controlled before-after studies. Studies were eligible if they included at least one of the following outcomes: price (or expenditure as a proxy for price and volume), volume, availability or affordability of pharmaceutical products. The quality of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE methodology. A total of 32011 records were retrieved, two of which were eligible for inclusion. Although based on evidence from a single study, public disclosure of medicine prices may be effective in reducing prices of medicines short-term, with benefits possibly sustained long-term. Evidence on the impact of a cost-feedback approach to prescribers was inconclusive. No evidence was found for impact on the outcomes volume, availability or affordability. The overall lack of evidence on policies promoting price transparency is a clear call for further research.",

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note = "Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the members of the Guideline Development Group (GDG) and the World Health Organization (WHO) secretariat and its advisors for providing technical support while establishing the research protocol: Kiu Tay-Teo, Fatima Suleman, Lisa Bero, Sabine Vogler. Additionally, Zaheer Babar, Jaime Espin and Kalipso Chalkidou contributed with constructive remarks on an early draft of the protocol and the technical report. Colleagues at York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) who contributed to the extensive search, document management and screening process include Ross Birtles, Mick Arber, Chris Bartlett, and James Mahon. We thank Lynn Al-Tayara (LT) for her role in extracting data and are grateful to the other members of our systematic review team: Christine Leopold (CL), Lizanne Arnoldy, Tom Buijs (TB) and Daniela Moye Holz. Funding Information: This systematic review was commissioned and funded by the World Health Organization [HQ/EMP/2019/002, 2019] under a grant from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). The review was part of the process for developing the 2020 WHO Guideline on Country Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies. The WHO secretariat and its advisors provided technical support for formulating the review protocol, performing specific searches on government websites, and translating several non-English publications. WHO, its advisors and DFID had no role in data analysis or interpretation. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the WHO or DFID . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022",

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Evidence on the effectiveness of policies promoting price transparency -: A systematic review

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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