The cost-of-illness of multiple sclerosis in Jordan.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) imposes a significant financial burden on health-care systems. This study aims to determine the cost-of-illness (COI) for MS in Jordan, a country where data on the economic impact of MS are scarce.

Methods: Data were collected for one year, annual COI was estimated using a cross-sectional snowball sampling design.

Adherence to oral anticoagulants in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation: the role of patients' characteristics and out-of-pocket payments.

Background: Recent practice guidelines favor direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) over warfarin for primary stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). However, challenges persist in Iraq's private pharmaceutical sector. DOACs have been sold at high and inconsistent retail prices and lack insurance coverage, leading to significant out-of-pocket (OOP) costs.

Effects of Different Types of COVID-19 Vaccines on Menstrual Cycles of Females of Reproductive Age Group (15-49): A Multinational Cross-Sectional Study.

Background Globally, there are more than 474 million cases and around 6 million deaths due to COVID-19. The case fatality rate was 0.5-2.

Capacity Building for Health Technology Assessment in Jordan: Institutionalization and Its Use in Pricing and Reimbursement Decisions.

Objectives: This study aimed to describe the process of the institutionalization of health technology assessment (HTA) in Jordan. In particular, this study presents local policy perspectives on capacity building for HTA and the progress made toward its use in pricing and reimbursement decisions.

Hta Capacity Building: University-based education and professional development training in pharmacoeconomics and pharmaceutical policy have been the starting points to create a receptive environment, necessary expertise, and local tools across many settings in Jordan.

Hospital unit costs in Jordan: insights from a country facing competing health demands and striving for universal health coverage.

Background: Public providers in Jordan are facing increasing health demands due to human crises. This study aimed to benchmark the unit costs of hospital services in public providers in Jordan to provide insights into the outlook for public health care costs.

Methods: The unit costs of hospital services per admission, inpatient days, outpatient visits, emergency visits and surgical operations were estimated using the standard average costing method (top-down) for the fiscal year 2018-2019.

Implementation Road Map of Health Technology Assessment in Middle-Income Countries: The Case of Jordan.

Objectives: Health technology assessment (HTA) can increase the appropriateness and transparency of pricing and reimbursement decisions. Jordan is still in the early phase of its HTA implementation, although the country has very limited public resources for the coverage of healthcare technologies. The study objective was to explore and validate priorities in the HTA road map for Jordan and propose to facilitate the preferred HTA status.

Drug Selection for Formulary Inclusion: An Exploratory Case Study of Oncology Medicines in Jordan.

Background: Access to healthcare services including innovative treatments is one of the most important objectives of healthcare system in Jordan. This research summarized one of the actual practices pertaining to health priority setting in Jordan with official requirement to use cost-effectiveness analysis.

Objectives: To address the role of economic evidence to inform the decisions and rationales drawn by health policy experts to optimize resources mobilization for new cancer drugs.

Investigating the Effect of Syrian Refugees on the Pharmaceutical Sector in Jordan.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Syrian refugees on the pharmaceutical sector in Jordan. Based on a standardized methodology developed by the WHO, Level II Facility (2009) structured questionnaires (including: medicine access [availability, affordability and geographical accessibility], quality, and rational use of medicines) were used to investigate the effect of Syrian refugees influx on the pharmaceutical sector in Jordan. Lists of essential medicines (N = 50) were included in the survey forms.

Patterns of antiepileptic drugs use in epileptic pediatric patients in Jordan.

Objective: To determine prescribing patterns of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in pediatric patients with confirmed diagnosis of epilepsy, and to provide knowledge of general practice of physicians.

Methods: The study was a multi-center crosssectional observational study, in specialized clinics for management of epilepsy in north, central and south Jordan. This study was conducted from January 2014 to July 2014.

Multi-indication Pharmacotherapeutic Multicriteria Decision Analytic Model for the Comparative Formulary Inclusion of Proton Pump Inhibitors in Qatar.

Purpose: The formulary inclusion of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in the government hospital health services in Qatar is not comparative or restricted. Requests to include a PPI in the formulary are typically accepted if evidence of efficacy and tolerability is presented. There are no literature reports of a PPI scoring model that is based on comparatively weighted multiple indications and no reports of PPI selection in Qatar or the Middle East.

Statin Selection in Qatar Based on Multi-indication Pharmacotherapeutic Multi-criteria Scoring Model, and Clinician Preference.

Purpose: Statin selection for the largest hospital formulary in Qatar is not systematic, not comparative, and does not consider the multi-indication nature of statins. There are no reports in the literature of multi-indication-based comparative scoring models of statins or of statin selection criteria weights that are based primarily on local clinicians' preferences and experiences. This study sought to comparatively evaluate statins for first-line therapy in Qatar, and to quantify the economic impact of this.

Implications of external price referencing of pharmaceuticals in Middle East countries.

Introduction: External price referencing (EPR) is applied frequently to control pharmaceutical prices. Our objective was to analyse how EPR is used in Middle Eastern (ME) countries and to compare the price corridor for original pharmaceuticals to non-pharmaceutical services not subjected to EPR.

Methods: We conducted a survey on EPR regulations and collected prices of 16 patented pharmaceuticals and 14 non-pharmaceutical services in seven Middle Eastern (ME) countries.

Comparison of the precision of the Topcon SP-3000P specular microscope and an ultrasound pachymeter.

Aim: To compare the precision of the Topcon SP-3000P noncontact specular microscope (NCSM) and the DGH 500 ultrasound pachymeter (USP).

Methods: Triplicate measurements of central corneal thickness (CCT) for 100 eyes were taken with an NCSM and a USP in 2 visits separated by 1 week. Repeatability was assessed by computing the differences between all 3 readings from each subject.

Statin prescribing in Northern Ireland and England pre and post introduction of the quality and outcomes framework.

Objective: The objective of this research was to examine differences in patterns of statin prescribing between Northern Ireland and England both before and after the introduction of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).

Setting: Primary care practices in Northern Ireland and England. Method Northern Ireland practices were matched with practices in England, statin prescribing data and QOF achievement scores (for the first year post-QOF) were obtained.

One-year assessment of joint procurement of pharmaceuticals in the public health sector in Jordan.

Background: About 10% of the gross domestic product in Jordan is spent on health care, and almost one third of that is spent on pharmaceuticals. The public health sector in Jordan has 4 main governmental parties that purchase medicines independently through annual tenders (ie, the process of bidding, being awarded, ordering, paying for, and receiving drugs) issued in the generic (or scientific) name of the medicines or therapeutic groups. Double purchasing is a problem that leads to higher spending on drugs and poor availability of medicines throughout the year.

Impact of Modified System of Objectified Judgement Analysis (SOJA) methodology on prescribing costs of ACE inhibitors.

Background And Objectives: System of Objectified Judgement Analysis (SOJA) is a structured approach to the selection of drugs for formulary inclusion. How- ever, while SOJA is a very important advance in drug selection for formulary purposes, it is hospital based and can only be applied to one indication at a time. In SOJA, cost has been given a primary role in the selection process as it has been included as a selection criterion from the start.