Tomasz Bochenek

This paper focuses on HTA, pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals in Germany and Poland. The authors analyzed processes of decision making related to pharmaceutical reimbursement, as well as their transparency. Both Germany and Poland have developed complex processes of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement, as well as incorporated HTA into decision making procedures.In Germany the stakeholders involvement and transparency of processes seem to be to higher than in Poland.

W 2012 roku dobiegła końca realizacja pierwszej edycji programu Europubhealth, prowadzonego w latach 2006–2012 przez Instytut Zdrowia Publicznego WNZ w ramach międzynarodowego konsorcjum uczelni medycznych, obejmujących swym programem dydaktycznym oraz badawczym zagadnienia zdrowia publicznego. W 2010 roku Komisja Europejska ponownie przyznała finansowanie na kontynuację programu do roku 2015, tzw. Europubhealth 2, którego ostatni absolwenci specjalizacji w Krakowie obronią pracę magisterską w 2017 roku.

Hospital-Based Health Technology Assessment (HB-HTA) aims to support local decision-making on investing in new health technologies limited to the hospital level. The goal of this study was to prepare and present the strategic functional model of HB-HTA in Poland with coordinating role of an organization labelled as the independent external organization (NOZ). The stakeholders of the HB-HTA process were identified, together with their interests and relations among them, as well as the goals and consequences of health policy in area of implementation of HB-HTA in Poland. The conduct of HB-HTA process was presented, the tasks foreseen for NOZ, its possible organizational forms, barriers, and possibilities of development; as well as the overall capacity of this organization in area of HB-HTA. It is foreseen that the development of HB-HTA in Poland based on NOZ should take place within a positively inclined environment, having a generally positive impact on the health care system, positive prognoses, and opportunities for implementation of HB-HTAh.

W dniach od 4 do 7 listopada 2012 roku odbywał się w Berlinie XV Coroczny Europejski Kongres ISPOR (International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research), jednego z największych towarzystw naukowych promujących rozwój farmakoekonomiki, ekonomiki zdrowia, oceny technologii medycznych (health technology assessment – HTA) oraz naukowej oceny wyników leczenia (outcomes research). Spotkanie było zatytułowane Challenging times for health care decisions in Europe: changing models of HTA, price referencing and integrating social preferences.

Since February 24, 2022, the hybrid war between Russia and Ukraine has been transformed into a very severe and open military conflict, having dramatic humanitarian and public health consequences – first of all, for the Ukrainians, but also for the whole world, in various dimensions. The impacts of this war are complex, multidimensional and multilateral. This paper aims to characterize the selected major impacts of the ongoing war on public health, as well as to characterize the selected reactions of the international academic public health community, including especially the three organizations from Moldova, Poland and France. Several positive responses of the academic community to the unprecedented humanitarian and public health crises caused by the Russo-Ukrainian war have been described. These efforts should be continued, developed and modified to the dynamically changing situation. The already existing international cooperation platforms, networks and alliances should be used for that purpose.

The innovation in pharmaceutical sector can be characterized as incremental. The expectations towards new drugs are very high but the access of Polish patients to the pharmaceutical innovation is limited. Role and perception of this innovation within the Polish health care policy are not signaled coherently and unambiguously. The Reimbursement Act is an important new legal act, which was intensely debated in the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011.This legal act changes conditions of functioning of virtually all subjects acting on the market of pharmaceuticals which are financed from public sources. The Reimbursement Act introduces thorough changes into the pharmaceutical policy and pricing and reimbursement policies. These changes can influence the pharmaceutical innovation in the Polish health care system. It is impossible to circumscribe the direction of these changes decisively. However, there is a hope for a summary positive influence of new regulations, so monitoring of a manner of implementation of the Reimbursement Act will be necessary.

The personalized medicine and the pharmacogenomics in treatment of central nervous system diseases - future of pharmacotherapy or next challenge for a health care system?

The concept of personalized medicine has become increasingly popular and even “fashionable” within recent years, although the idea of personalization had originated in medicine much earlier than it gained its current label. Providing a therapy which is tailored to needs of a particular patient has been facilitated in selected areas of medicine by successful translation of the human genome and the developments of modern diagnostics and pharmacology. The personalized medicine is an area of development of medical and social sciences. It is also taking position within the health care system and it requires the sound sources of financing. The authors analyze the current status of knowledge on personalized medicine from the health care system’s point of view and setting the special focus on diseases of the central nervous system, including epilepsy. The on-going R&D initiatives from the field of the pharmacogenomics and the personalized medicine have been also presented in this paper

The principles of pharmaceutical reimbursement in the Polish health care system - overview of changes after implementation of the pharmaceutical reimbursement law and analysis of their impact on the physician-patient relationships

A very important new law (the Reimbursement Law) has been implemented in Poland on turn of years 2011 and 2012 and it has deeply changed the national pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policy. The aim of this paper is to characterize the current status of affairs in this area and also to analyze the influence of changes on relationship between physicians and patients. The implementation of the Reimbursement Law has had a multifaceted impact on the Polish health care system and it has interfered relationships among its stakeholders. Several amendments to the new law are being expected in the forthcoming years, so all relevant experiences of the various stakeholders should be taken into due consideration during further pharmaceutical policy reforms. Appropriate preparations should be made beforehand, involving not only the state regulator and the public payer.