German moves on doctors' drug spending

German Health Minister Ulla Schmidt has said that a plan to controlpanel doctors' drug spending more precisely is to be launched later this year. A draft version, which will go to cabinet later this month, focuses on pack size limits and ceilings on health funds' spending.

The new regulations are partly a response to doctors' protests at the current drug budget arrangements. Under the present system, all doctors in a given region, regardless of their own drug prescribing levels, face financial penalties if the regional drug budget is exceeded. The Minister is now relying on greater self-discipline by doctors and funds, and the latter will work on a system of drug pack sizes oriented to their patients' health profiles and the spending budget limits of their region.