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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1388569

Trends of Drug Expenditure in Taiwan National Health Insurance before and during COVID-19 pandemic

Provisionally accepted
Shu-I Wu Shu-I Wu An-sheng Lee An-sheng Lee Ching-Hu Chung Ching-Hu Chung *
  • Mackay Medical College, New Taipei, Taiwan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: The Taiwanese government adopted the National Health Insurance system (NHI) in March 1995. This study aimed to understand the difference in medication cost before (year 2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021) among different hospitals for treating their patients. Methods: The NHI claims database consisting of claims prescription drugs for inpatients (IPD) and outpatients (OPD) in Taiwan was used to determine drug expenditure in different hospitals, particularly the top 10 prescription Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) categories. Results: In medical centers, L01X (other antineoplastic agents) showed the highest drug expenditure, followed by L04A (immunosuppressants) and J05A (direct-acting antivirals). The drug expenditure pattern in regional hospitals was similar to that in medical centers, with L01X (other antineoplastic agents) showing the highest drug expenditure. L01X (other antineoplastic agents) also showed the highest drug expenditure in district hospitals, followed by N05A (antipsychotics) and A10B (blood glucose-lowering drugs, excluding insulin). In clinics, A10B (blood glucose-lowering drugs, excluding insulin) showed the highest drug expenditure. The total medication costs in 2021 were lower or similar to those in 2019. The use of systemic use anti-infectives decreased over time in out-patient departments among all hospita1 levels but increased in inpatient departments in medical centers and district hospitals. Furthermore, our analysis revealed that the trend in drug expenditure closely mirrored the trend in drug prescription volume for the highest annual sum cost item among the top 10 drug subgroups across different hospital levels. Conclusion: Our analysis found that annual drug expenditures in 2021 were lower or similar to those in 2019, suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to this reduction in drug expenditure.

    Keywords: Drug expenditure, medical center, Regional Hospital, District hospital, Clinics, COVID-19 pandemic Table 1

    Received: 20 Feb 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wu, Lee and Chung. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ching-Hu Chung, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei, Taiwan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.