Attitudes of physicians and specialists towards the best approach of government in reducing the cost of prescription drugs in Tehran in 2015-2016

Interference in the different components of the drug sector can cause different and unpredictable effects in other parts of the health system. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of physicians and specialists towards the best approach of government in reducing the cost of prescription drugs.
This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based, observational study was conducted by the following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines among 360 general practitioners and specialists of the city of Tehran in 2015-2016. The descriptive statistics used in order to define the best approach of government in reducing the cost of prescription drugs, and Chi-square and Cross Tab has used for evaluating the relationship between the attitudes of the physicians and specialists with choosing each one of the approaches.
The response rate of the participants in the study was about 97%. By considering the fact that the participants were allowed to choose more than one option in answering the questions, attitudes of surveyed physicians about the best approach of government in reducing the cost of prescription drugs is as follows, respectively: 45.6% of them have chosen the approach of creation and enforcement of price controls on pharmaceutical companies, 41.5% of them provide subsidies such as tax benefits and other concessions to pharmaceutical companies, 20.4% starting Government drug manufacturing units, and 10% of them have selected some other approaches, different from proposed approaches, according to the questionnaire. It is noteworthy that there was no significant relationship between being a general practitioner or specialist and choosing each one of the approaches.
In most of the studies, role of the government in promoting the Cost Containment Strategies for prescription drugs and controlling the costs in health care system and managing the imposed costs on patients is undeniable. According to this study and most of the current studies, the best approach of government in reducing the cost of prescription drugs is the creation and enforcement of price controls on pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the government has a dominant role to play in upbringing and cultivating a new generation of cost-conscious physicians and medical staff. Ultimately, government can make a remarkable contribution to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and making healthcare affordable.