You are here

Responses

Article menu

Download PDFPDF

Editorial
Value or cost: looking for the wider perspective
Free
Compose a Response to This Article
Compose Response

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Author Information
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.
Statement of Competing Interests

PLEASE NOTE:

  • A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in a BMJ journal; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed unless it is also republished as a Letter, Correspondence or as other content. Find out more about rapid responses.
  • We intend to post all responses which are approved by the Editor, within 14 days (BMJ Journals) or 24 hours (The BMJ), however timeframes cannot be guaranteed. Responses must comply with our requirements and should contribute substantially to the topic, but it is at our absolute discretion whether we publish a response, and we reserve the right to edit or remove responses before and after publication and also republish some or all in other BMJ publications, including third party local editions in other countries and languages
  • Our requirements are stated in our rapid response terms and conditions and must be read. These include ensuring that: i) you do not include any illustrative content including tables and graphs, ii) you do not include any information that includes specifics about any patients,iii) you do not include any original data, unless it has already been published in a peer reviewed journal and you have included a reference, iv) your response is lawful, not defamatory, original and accurate, v) you declare any competing interests, vi) you understand that your name and other personal details set out in our rapid response terms and conditions will be published with any responses we publish and vii) you understand that once a response is published, we may continue to publish your response and/or edit or remove it in the future.
  • By submitting this rapid response you are agreeing to our terms and conditions for rapid responses and understand that your personal data will be processed in accordance with those terms and our privacy notice.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Vertical Tabs

Other responses

Jump to comment:

  • Published on: 20 April 2017
    Government intervention in pricing has great impact on cost and therefore on value.
    • Sagarika Kamath, Assistant Professor -MBA healthcare program Manipal University
    • Other Contributors:
      • Rajesh Kamath, Assistant Professor-Department of Public health
      • brayal d'souza, Assistant Professor-Department of Public health

    Reading the editorial – “Value or cost: looking for the wider perspective”,the one thing that struck us the most was,when pharmacists determine value,one of the most important variables that they take into account is the monetary cost of the intervention,say antibiotics.This raised several questions in our minds.What if the antibiotics on the hospital formulary were priced at a point that their use in certain situations seemed unjustified to pharmacists,but would seem perfectly justified at lower price points?What if generics,available at a fraction of the price of the branded variety,were used in place of the brands?It seems to us that they would most certainly impact the way that “value” is calculated for that particular scenario.What if the pharmacist knew a perfectly good enough generic,but hospital policy allowed procurement,and hence prescribing of,only a more expensive brand?
    When hospital pharmacists try to assess the value of a new health technology,we feel that they would be well served if they took a long,hard look at the evidence.Sometimes claims might not be very genuine.And this could place heavy costs on the patients.A very contemporary example would be the pricing of cardiac stents. Cardiac stents are sold at a 300 to 400 percent mark up to Indian patients.A stent that costs Rs.20,000(Euro 284) if bought from a vendor would miraculously cost Rs.160,000(Euro 2273)at the hospital pharmacy,all other charges being separate.1The patient is not given the o...

    Show More
    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.