The National Health Insurance (NHI) program is to stop covering repackaged drugs next year in a bid to improve medication safety, the NHI Administration said yesterday.
An official in the adminstration’s Medical Review and Pharmaceutical Benefits Division, Chen Shang-pin (陳尚斌), said the NHI program has been covering repackaged medications, mainly ointments and liquid oral drugs, since it was implemented in 1995, as the original manufacturers had not been able at the time to produce smaller packaged medications in quantities sufficient to meet market demand.
“However, there have been concerns over repackaging drugs into smaller quantities, including the possibility of cross-contamination of drugs, exposure to bacteria or fungi, imprecise doses and unclear expiration dates,” Chen said.
“Also, it is more difficult for the administration to verify the accuracy of the costs of repackaged medications reported by medical facilities,” he added.
Chen said the administration stipulated that the new policy — which is due to take effect on Jan. 1 next year — will be based on a consensus reached during a meeting with consumers and representatives from the medical and pharmaceutical industries last month.
Chen said the administration spent a total of NT$89 million (US$2.96 million) covering approximately 897 kinds of repackaged medications last year.
“Such drugs take up only a small proportion of all the medications covered by the NHI program. Stopping funding will not affect the insurance program’s finances and is expected to improve drug safety,” Chen said.
In an effort to assuage concerns that the new policy could lead to higher medical bills, Chen said hospitals or clinics that are caught imposing extra fees on patients could face severe punishment or see their contracts with the NHI program rescinded.
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