Assessment of stakeholders' opinions and preferences on pharmaceutical policy in Turkey with multiple criteria decision analysis (ELECTRE III)

Along with the changes in the disease structure resulting from aging population, increased awareness of health and access to services have increased the need for effective selection and use of health policies. An important part of these health policies is pharmaceutical policy. Pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies are expected to meet the needs of individuals on time, maintain the effective use of resources and support research and development activities. These expectations differ according to each stakeholder, and these differences directly affect the preferences of the stakeholder groups. With this study, it is aimed to reveal the differences in opinions and preferences of stakeholders regarding pharmaceutical policies. A questionnaire was applied to determine the preferences of the four different stakeholder groups on pharmaceutical policy and a total of 179 questionnaire results were collected and analyzed. The analysis of the results was made with Multi Criteria Decision Making tool ELECTRE III. According to the results, the most important policiy objectives are access to pharmaceuticals, sustainability of healthcare system and control of pharmaceutical spending. Accelerated authorization and reimbursement processes have been found the most effective tools to achieve the stated objectives. This was followed by pharmacoeconomic evaluation and alternative reimbursement contracts, respectively. When the preferences of the stakeholder groups are analyzed separately, it is found that stakeholders have similar views on policy objectives, but with respect to tools, preferences are different. It is expected that the results of this research will guide the decision makers while evaluating existing policies and creating new ones.