The plan to recover from the deficit of the Lazio Region, signed yesterday morning in Rome not only by Turco, but also by the Minister of Economy and Finance Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, is not news of local interest, and is said by Health Minister Livia Turc himself. and by the president Piero Marrazzo, "it is a plan of national importance". The minister then explained that "all the regional health services, therefore also that of Lazio, are interconnected and consequently the problems of a single region concern all Italian citizens". Not only in this renewed cooperation between the central government and the Regions, sanctioned by today's signature, "will we proceed to a common reading of the causes of debt accumulation in the six Regions with budgetary problems". In addition, "support and attention will be guaranteed to every single phase of the deficit settlement and various checks of the results will be prepared", concludes Turco.
The plan also presents a series of interventions on pharmaceutical spending, for a total saving of 210 million euros. For example, as regards proton pump inhibitors there will be the application of a reference price (11 euros), i.e. say that molecules of this class will all find themselves being reimbursed for the cost of the available generic, lansoprazole. But that's not the only thing it's about. The press release from the Region also mentions "the single prescription (i.e. the prescription of a single box of medicines for medical prescription) of statins". This measure should yield 24 million euros, while 50 would be saved with the reference price on proton pump inhibitors. An approach that bears in mind the objective of not imposing a share in spending on the citizen.
The plan also presents a series of interventions on pharmaceutical spending, for a total saving of 210 million euros. For example, as regards proton pump inhibitors there will be the application of a reference price (11 euros), i.e. say that molecules of this class will all find themselves being reimbursed for the cost of the available generic, lansoprazole. But that's not the only thing it's about. The press release from the Region also mentions "the single prescription (i.e. the prescription of a single box of medicines for medical prescription) of statins". This measure should yield 24 million euros, while 50 would be saved with the reference price on proton pump inhibitors. An approach that bears in mind the objective of not imposing a share in spending on the citizen.
Another important intervention is the strengthening of the distribution "by name" and "on behalf" of drugs, from which another 50 million is expected, and of direct distribution, for another 20. Savings are also expected from hospital pharmaceutical expenditure, for 31 millions. The Lazio plan also took into account the effect of the forthcoming expiry of the patents of many specialties (23 molecules): another 30 million in the two-year period 2008-2009. “This provision calls for a sacrifice from industry, pharmacies and family doctors but looks far ahead, reforming the structure of the system and which will also produce positive effects in the next few years – declared the president Marrazzo – something has changed in this region; we are not at the end of the tunnel yet but we are in sight of the light”.
As a pharmacist33
