The Medicines and Insurance Coverage (MedIC) Initiative is a unique partnership between academics, health care delivery systems, health care financing institutions, and international organizations. We seek to improve population health through evidence-informed medicines policies and programs in health systems, with a particular focus on emerging and expanding insurance schemes in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) working toward universal health coverage.
MedIC activities focus on
- Capacity strengthening for medicines policy and program development in LMIC systems
- Collaborative applied policy research on medicines management, programs, and policies in health care delivery and financing systems
- Advancing methods for monitoring and evaluating impacts of medicines management, programs, and policies
- Networking and sharing knowledge, experiences, and tools for evidence-informed decision making
The MedIC research portfolio addresses medicines access, affordability (from household and systems perspectives), and use of medicines in health systems and desired and potential undesired impacts of system changes on these outcomes. DPRG faculty conducting MedIC research include Drs. Christine Lu, Dennis Ross-Degnan, Anita Wagner, Catherine Vialle-Valentin, and Fang Zhang. Pharmaceutical Policy Research Fellows frequently lead MedIC research projects.
- Wagner AK, Quick J, Ross-Degnan D. Universal health coverage and medicines: Quality medicines use is essential for survival. Under review.
- Leopold C, Zhang F, Mantel-Teeuwisse AK, Vogler S, Valkova S, Ross-Degnan D, Wagner AK. Impact of pharmaceutical policy interventions on utilization of antipsychotic medicines in Finland and Portugal: interrupted time series analyses. Under review.
- Reddy SK, Ross-Degnan D, Zaslavsky A, Soumerai SB, Wagner AK. Health Care Payments in the Asia Pacific: Validation of Five Survey Measures of Economic Burden. Int J for Equity in Health 2013;12:49. DOI: 10.1186/1475-9276-12-49.
- Fang Y, Wagner AK, Yang S, Jiang M, Ross-Degnan D. Has access to affordable medicines improved following health reform: Evidence from two cross-sectional surveys in Western China. Lancet Global Health, in press.
- Lu CY, Ross-Degnan D, Stephens P, Liu B, Wagner AK. Changes in Use of Antidiabetic Medications Following Price Regulations in China (1999-2009). Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research 2013;4(1):3-11. doi: 10.1111/jphs.12007.
- Garabedian LF, Ross-Degnan D, Ratanawijitrasin S, Stephens P, Wagner AK. Impact of Universal Health Coverage in Thailand on Sales and Market Share of Medicines for Non-Communicable Diseases. BMJ Open 2012;2:e001686. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001686.
- Pérez-Cuevas R, Doubova SV, Suarez-Ortega M, Law M, Pande AH, Escobedo J, Espinosa-Larrañaga F, Ross-Degnan D, Wagner AK. Evaluating quality of care for patients with type 2 diabetes using electronic health record information in Mexico. BMC Clinical Informatics and Decision Making 2012, 12:50. Available at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/12/50.
- Carapinha J, Ross-Degnan D, Desta A, Wagner AK. Health insurance systems in five Sub-Saharan African countries: Medicines benefits and data for decision making. Health Policy 2011; 99: 193-202. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2010.11.009.
- Faden L, Vialle-Valentin C, Ross-Degnan D, Wagner AK. Active pharmaceutical management strategies of health insurance systems to improve cost-effective use of medicines in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of current evidence. Health Policy 2011; 100: 134-143. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2010.10.020.
- Wagner AK, Graves AJ, Reiss S, LeCates R, Zhang F, Ross-Degnan D. Access to Care and Medicines, Burden of Health Care Expenditures, and Risk Protection: Results from the World Health Survey. Health Policy 2011; 100: 151-158. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2010.08.004.
- Bertoldi AD, Barros AJ, Camargo AL, Hallal PC, Vandoros S, Wagner AK, Ross-Degnan D. Household expenditures for medicines and the role of free medicines in the Brazilian public health system. Am J Public Health 2010; e1-e6. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.175844.
- Bertoldi AD, Barros AJ, Wagner A, Ross-Degnan D, Hallal PC. Medicine access and utilization in a population covered by primary health care in Brazil. Health Policy 2009; 89:295-302. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2008.07.001.
- Vialle-Valentin CE, Ross-Degnan D, Ntaganira J, Wagner AK. Medicines coverage and community-based health insurance in low-income countries. Health Res Policy Syst 2008; 6:11. DOI: 10.1186/1478-4505-6-11.
Related Links
- ICIUM2011 Theme Summaries (see#18 on Health Insurance and Medicines Access, Affordability, and Use)
Principal Investigator: Anita Katharina Wagner
Funder(s): Funders of MedIC research projects include the China Medical Board; the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute; Health Action International; the Harvard Medical School Fellowship in Pharmaceutical Policy Research; the IMS Institute for Health Care Informatics; the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine; the World Health Organization.
Related Resources