JPMA Warns Industry Over NHI Price Cuts

Japan's current revision of medical fees differs from previous ones in that it is funded mainly by drug price cuts and expansion of the flat fee system, says Osamu Kido, director general of the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. Therefore, he writes in the current issue of JPMA Update, the drug price cuts in the current round of revisions are large, and the effects on the pharmaceutical industry are expected to be more pronounced than in the past.

Until 1991, the rate of rise in medical spending in Japan was more or less covered by the rate of rise in national income, he notes. However, in recent years it has started to outstrip that of national income, resulting in ever-larger deficits in the National Health Insurance and other health cover programs. Thus, advocacy of drug cost containment as a means of securing the funds to pay medical expenditure is likely to grow stronger, he warns.

Priority issues which must be dealt with by the JPMA this year, says Mr Kido, are: