Planning and allocating resources for pharmaceuticals to health care organisations: a proposal from the Regional Pharmaceutical Policies Forum

Introduction: This document illustrates the results of a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder Working Group(WG), focused on planning and allocation of resources for pharmaceuticals from the Regions to the Health Authorities. The WG was carried out during the Fourth Edition of the Regional Pharmaceutical Policies Forum.Methods: The WG designed a model of resources planning and allocation, that can be adapted to the regionalcontexts. The discussion moved from pharmaceutical expenditure forecasting methods, resource allocation criteriaand processes from the Central Government to the Regions and a survey on the current methods of allocationof resources for pharmaceuticals from the Regions to the Health Authorities.Results: The proposal, that can be adapted to each single Region, provides: (i) that the allocation of resources isconsistent with the regional pharmaceutical policies and objectives given to the Health Authorities General Managers; (ii) for a transparent and simplified approach, avoiding expenditure sub-targets; (iii) for a timeline witha first provisional allocation in January, the final allocation by March and possible adjustments until August; (iv)for a level of sophistication that can be adapted to the regional capacity and the willingness to invest in planningby politicians; (v) for a monitoring system possibly on a monthly basis and based upon reports supporting theadoption of remedial actions.Conclusions: Finally, the WG hoped for overcoming silos budgets and advocated for a broader resources planningand allocation, that should consider the whole journey of the patient, from treatment eligibility to the managementof any organizational impact of therapies on the follow-up of the patient.