Abstract
Drug expenditures take a significant proportion of all nations’ national health accounts. The continuous tracking national drug account system is the goal of this multiphase research. Phase 1 started with the carefully designed methodologies of how to build up the semi automated flows of legally bound administrative data at the national level for continuous and like real time use. From the systematic review of both international and Thai literature found 22 studies guiding the clarification of drug expenditures related to 4 levels of drug prices: producer, wholesaler, reimbursement, and consumer prices. Key informants related to 4 levels of drug prices were participating in in depth interviews group discussions, such as Food and Drug Administration for medicines in general and narcotics)), Government Pharmaceutical Organization, Rajavithi Hospital, provincial administrative organization, municipality, National Health Foundation, and researchers on national drug accounts and medicine coding. The content analysis categorized 4 tiers of supply chain contributing to success of national drug account study: tier 1 manufacturer importer, tier 2 distributer, tier 3 wholesaler, and tier N 1 prescriber over the counter seller while tier N = end user).
These findings would feed to subsequent phases of the national drug account study to establish the data system for drug policy.
