Background: Reference-based pricing is a cost-containment policy applied to prescription
drugs that are in the same class and deemed to be therapeutically equivalent. Recent …

Background: Increasing copayments for higher-priced prescription medications has been
suggested as a means to help finance drug coverage for elderly patients, but evaluations of …

Background In January 1997, reference pricing for angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE)
inhibitors for patients 65 years of age or older was introduced in British Columbia, Canada …

Background: Reference drug pricing (RP) is a cost-sharing strategy commonly used to
control drug expenditures. Under RP, a benefit plan fully reimburses medications that are …

Background: Gender-specific attitudes and communication styles are known to influence
both the content and outcome of medical visits. Therefore, gender-specific differences in …

Background In the United States, prices for therapeutically similar drugs vary widely, which
has prompted efforts by public and private insurers to steer patients toward the lower-priced …

Importance Reference pricing has been shown to reduce drug spending in Europe and has
been adopted by some employers and labor unions in the United States. Its association with …

The United States relies primarily on market forces to determine prices for drugs, whereas
most other industrialized countries use a variety of approaches to determine drug prices …

Background Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor
blockers (ARBs) are used for several indications including hypertension. Our aim is to …

At $15 billion per year, pharmaceuticals are second to hospitals in terms of Canadian health
care spending. But they are first in terms of expenditure growth. Prescription drugs have …