PRICING AND REIMBURSEMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS - A NEW CULTURE FOR THE COMMUNITY PHARMACIST

Pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals are of concern for pharma cists. Different countries have different ways of organising their hea rth care systems. The place for pharmaceuticals within these systems a lso differ. This article looks into the price-and reimbursement system s for medicinal products in Germany, Sweden, the UK and Norway. Variou s ways of organising the pharmaceutical market emerge. Some existing m easures have been in place fora long time while others have been intro duced more recently. A common goal for the four countries seems to be the drive to cut costs, and attempts to do this can be directed throug h various reimbursement systems, by focusing cn prices or by influenci ng the physicians' prescribing behaviour, either through the Use of ad vice or through the use of budgets. it is important for the pharmacist s to have in-depth knowledge of the price-and reimbursement system the y have to work within in order to be of full service to their customer s.