The ICIUM 2011 Economics, Financing, and Insurance track welcomes abstracts on issues related to medicines prices and affordability, and the role of economics and financial incentives in determining access to and appropriate use of medicines. In particular, as the conference progresses, the following will be discussed:

1 – GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ISSUES

This area will focus on the global initiatives that influence the financing, availability, or price of medicines in low and middle income countries. This will include research that addresses the impacts of: 

• Implementation of intellectual property agreements, free trade agreements, and patent pools
  
• Global medicine subsidies or financing schemes, especially those targeting medicines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria
  
• Pooled procurement mechanisms across countries or price negotiation arrangements
  
• Harmonization of medicines regulations and policies to improve efficiency and increase access to medicines
  
• Differential pricing by industry 
  
• Emerging regional pharmaceutical markets and their impact on availability and price of essential medicines
  
• Availability and use of global information on medicines prices
  
• Impact of global financial/economic crisis on medicines’ price, availability and affordability

2 – NATIONAL SYSTEMS, PROGRAMS AND POLICIES

This area will focus on national programs and policies related to medicines financing or price. This will include the impacts of: 

• National legal or regulatory structures that affect access to and use of medicines including competition, taxation, import tariffs, scheduling of medicines, and intellectual property, trade and industrial development policies
  
• Economic aspects of national medicines policies, including incentives for medicines producers, policies to encourage generic competition or increase generics utilization
  
• National policies and systems to regulate medicines prices or contain costs, including pharmacoeconomic analysis, external or internal reference pricing, cost-plus pricing, etc.
  
• National medicines procurement policies and systems including pooled procurement within a country
  
• Role of pharmacoeconomic analysis in development of national formularies
  
• Shifts in the allocation or amount of public financing for medicines
  
• Insurance coverage for medicines, including different types of contracting, reimbursement mechanisms, and policies to expand access or improve use
• High cost medicines, especially those to treat cancer or those emerging from biotech pipelines

3 – HEALTH CARE AND FINANCING INSTITUTIONS

This area will focus on medicines policies and programs in national or local institutions that play a major role in the financing or delivery of pharmaceutical care. This will include the impacts of: 

• Role of institutional policies on use of medicines, including policies on budget controls, mark-ups, generic substitution, price information, etc.
  
• Shift to hospital financial autonomy and changing impact of medicines sales as a revenue generating source
  
• Insurance system policies and programs to increase access and improve use, both for inpatient and outpatient medicines
  
• Role of pharmacoeconomic analysis in development of institutional formularies
  
• Efficiency and transparency of institutional medicine procurement practices
  
• Provision of high cost medicines, including formulary listing, insurance coverage, and efforts to ensure appropriate use
• Institutional restrictions on pharmaceutical promotional activities

4 – HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

This area will focus on economic issues that affect how health providers prescribe or dispense medicines. This will include research on:

• Impact of provider payment mechanisms (contracting, performance based payment, capitation, global prescribing budgets, etc.) on medicines use.
  
• Insurance reimbursement arrangements, including strategies to encourage prescribing and dispensing of low priced medicines
  
• Health care providers’ awareness of medicines prices or quality when prescribing or dispensing
•  Impact of unbiased information about medicines prices or quality on prescribing and dispensing practices, including point of care information through electronic systems
  
• Cost-effectiveness of education initiatives to improve prescribing and dispensing practices
  
• Cost-effectiveness of introducing digital hospital technology to improve prescribing and dispensing practices in developing countries
  
• Impact of health care providers’ adherence to good prescribing and dispensing practices on affordability of medicines
  
• Impact of unethical pharmaceutical promotion on prescribing and dispensing practices and use of more affordable medicines

5 – CONSUMERS, PATIENTS AND COMMUNITY SYSTEMS

This area will focus on economics aspects of medicines access and utilization from the consumer or patient perspective. This would include research about: 

• Medicines affordability measurement, the extent of cost-related underuse of medicines, and the impact of interventions on affordability
  
• Data on medicines expenditures and utilization including from household surveys
  
• Impact of changes in patient cost sharing (e.g., through subsidies, copayments, provision of free medicines) on access and appropriate use
  
• Impact of providing information to consumers about medicine price, availability, or quality, use of low priced medicines, or details about medicines benefits
  
• Economic aspects of pharmaceutical promotion.