Brazil to formalise price increase on reimbursable products
This article was originally published in Clinica
The Brazilian government has announced that it will formalise the reimbursement price increase originally agreed in 1994 for hospital procedures, medical disposables and implants.
The government currently operates a monthly bonus system developed when it last increased reimbursement levels in 1994. The increase was set at 25% but was never formally implemented. Instead it was given as a monthly bonus which the government would pay if it had the money. If no money was available it would delay paying the bonus to the companies, sometimes by over a year.
Following the recent healthcare reforms in Brazil, the government is now confident that it will have the budget to implement the price increase formally instead of using the bonus system.
The reality was that, whilst companies did receive an increase, they never knew if it would be paid within one month, four months or a year. It could also be cancelled from one moment to the next because it was "just a bonus", said Ronaldo Pitta, treasury secretary of ABIMO, the Brazilian medtech industry association.
* Mercosur, the Latin American trading bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, is developing guidelines relating to clinical trial data requirements for product registration within the free-trade zone. Industry associations and the health authorities from the four countries will agree on parameters for when they can demand that a product go through additional clinical trials in a Mercosur country.
Products that have already been approved by recognised agencies, such as the US FDA, outside Mercosur will not be affected. The guidelines will also cover clinical trials carried out in Mercosur countries.