Summary:
Scope: The introduction of generics into the drug market has been one of the most important reforms implemented by recent Greek governments in order to reduce pharmaceutical expenditure. Doctors were asked to support generics by prescribing them. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the doctors of the private hospital “Mitera”, in generic prescription.
Methods: The survey was conducted using questionnaires from February to April 2018. The response rate was 88.7% and 188 doctors participated. The data processing software used was IBM SPSS Statistics V. 25. For the identification of the most statistically important factors affecting generic prescribing, principal component analysis and logistic regression analysis were used.
Results: The majority of doctors, representing 45.2%, declared they had “Good” opinion on generics, while 43.1% said they had a “Modest” view. Almost 80% said they prescribed generics, while 20.2% said they did not prescribe generics at all. The majority of doctors, at a total of 65.4%, use generics from 20% to 60% in prescribing. The dependent variable had two levels: "Generics cover less than 40% of my prescriptions” (62.8%), "Generics cover at least 40% of my prescriptions" (37.2%). The factors that appear to be statistically significant in prescribing generics are: “Economic crisis” (p-value = 0.000 <0.05), “Competition between doctors” (p-value = 0.001 <0.05), “Patient characteristics” (p-value=0.007 <0.05), and “Comparative generic advantages” (p-value = 0.030 <0.05).
Conclusions: Substitution of on-patent medicines from the corresponding generics is a process has not been fully accepted by the medical community. The Greek state, due to the difficult economic situation, will need to develop new policies in order to further promote the benefits of generics in relation to on-patent drugs. In addition, it should motivate physicians to consider patient's characteristics, as in the case of insufficient insurance coverage, prescribing may lead to high out-of-pocket payments.
Keywords:
pharmaceutical market, generics, doctor’s prescribing behavior, pharmaceutical expenditures, principal component analysis, logistic regression
