Author(s)

YiFan Ge

Affiliation(s)

International Department, Hefei No. 8 High School, Hefei 230011, Anhui, China.

Corresponding Author

YiFan Ge

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Under the background of the regular implementation of the National Centralized Drug Procurement (NCDP) policy, this study aimed to assess the impacts of the NCDP policy on drug utilization and overall healthcare services in county-level medical institutions, as well as to probe into the influencing factors of changes in drug utilization.

Method: A pre-post study was applied using inpatient data from a county-level medical institution in Nanjing. The drug utilization behavior of medical institutions regarding 88 commonly used policy-related drugs (by generic name, including bid-winning and bid-non-winning brands) was analyzed, and the substitution of bid-winning brands for brand-name drugs after policy intervention was evaluated.

Results: After policy intervention, 43.18% of policy-related drugs realized the substitution of bid-winning brands for bid-non-winning brands (6.82% of complete substitution, 36.36% of partial substitution). Meanwhile, 40.90% of policy-related drugs failed to realize brand substitution. Multiple factors affected brand substitution, including: (1) Policy effect: Brand substitution was more pronounced after the intervention of the first and third rounds of NCDP. (2) Drug market competition: The greater the price reduction of bid-non-winning brands, and the more drugs available for the same indication, the more likely that medical institutions would continue using the same brands as they did before policy intervention. (3) Previous drug utilization of medical institutions: Brand substitution was more evident in drugs with a large number of prescriptions and weak preference for brand-name drugs.

Conclusion: The NCDP policy promoted the substitution of bid-winning brands for bid-non-winning brands, thereby positively impacting the quality and accessibility of overall healthcare services. However, further implementation of the NCDP policy is needed in county-level medical institutions. Efforts in policy implementation, drug market competition, and the drug utilization patterns of medical institutions will affect the success of the NCDP policy and its overall impact on the healthcare system.

KEYWORDS

National Centralized Drug Procurement (NCDP); Drug utilization; Brand substitution; County-level medical institutions

CITE THIS PAPER

YiFan Ge. The socio-economic and public health impacts of the national centralized drug procurement policy. Social Science and Management. 2025, 2(4): 58-64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/ssm3070.

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