Pharmaceuticals : State Departments that Purchase Prescription Drugs can Further Refine their Cost Savings Strategies

Concerns CA's procurement & reimbursement practices as they related to the purchase of drugs for or by state dep'ts. The CA Dept. of Gen. Serv. got the best prices for the drug ingredient cost because of its up-front discounts through contract negot. with mfrs. of high-cost brand name drugs & through competitively bidding for high-vol. generic drugs. The Dept. of Health Services' prices are lower than Gen. Serv. because it receives substantial fed. Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) & state supplemental rebates. Canada's gov'tl entities got the lowest prices 58% of the time, while the U.S. gov'tl entities got the lowest prices 32% of the time. Calif. got the lowest prices for 10% of the sample drugs. Fed. law strictly limits the importation of prescription drugs. Illus.Hendrickson, Steven M. is the author of 'Pharmaceuticals : State Departments that Purchase Prescription Drugs can Further Refine their Cost Savings Strategies', published 2005 under ISBN 9780756748906 and ISBN 0756748909.