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What is the impact of rare disease (RD) drugs on Bulgaria’s National Health Insurance Fund’s (NHIF) total drug budget for 2011-2014 is assessed in a new article in Pubmed. NHIF costs for RD therapies were expected to increase up to 74.5 million BGN in 2014 (7.8% of NHIF’s total pharmaceutical expenditure).
What is the impact of rare disease (RD) drugs on Bulgaria’s National Health Insurance Fund’s (NHIF) total drug budget for 2011-2014 is assessed in a new article in Pubmed. NHIF costs for RD therapies were expected to increase up to 74.5 million BGN in 2014 (7.8% of NHIF’s total pharmaceutical expenditure).While simple cost drivers are well known – number of patients treated and mean cost per patient – in fact they depend on the availability and accessibility of effective innovative therapies. As RD were historically underdiagnosed, undertreated and underfunded in Bulgaria, improved access to RD drugs will inevitably lead to increasing budget burden for payers.
Based on the evidence from the new study, a theoretical framework of a budget impact study for RD is proposed:
- A retrospective analysis could provide essential health policy insights in terms of impact on accessibility and population health, which are significant benchmarks in shaping funding decisions in healthcare.
- Budget impact studies are recommended to focus on RD rather than orphan drugs (OD). In policy context, RD are the public health priority. OD is a dynamic characteristic and compromises the consistency and comparability of the calculated budget indicators.
You can read the full text here.