Promoting quality use of medicines in South-East Asia: reports from country situational analyses.

Background: Irrational use of medicines is widespread in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR), where policy implementation to encourage quality use of medicines (QUM) is often low. The aim was to determine whether public-sector QUM is better in SEAR countries implementing essential medicines (EM) policies than in those not implementing them.

Methods: Data on six QUM indicators and 25 EM policies were extracted from situational analysis reports of 20 country (2-week) visits made during 2010-2015.

Impact of universal health insurance coverage in Thailand on sales and market share of medicines for non-communicable diseases: an interrupted time series study.

Objective: In 2001, Thailand implemented the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), a public insurance system that aimed to achieve universal access to healthcare, including essential medicines, and to influence primary care centres and hospitals to use resources efficiently, via capitated payment for outpatient services and other payment policies for inpatient care. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of the UCS on utilisation of medicines in Thailand for three non-communicable diseases: cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Design: Interrupted time-series design, with a non-equivalent comparison group.

Does your health care depend on how your insurer pays providers? Variation in utilization and outcomes in Thailand.

Hospitals in Thailand operate in a multiple insurance payment environment. This paper examines (1) access to medicines and other medical technologies, (2) treatment outcomes, and (3) efficiency in resource use, among beneficiaries of the three government health insurance schemes in Thailand. Using 2003-2005 outpatient and inpatient data for patients with three tracer diseases from three government hospitals, we find that utilization of more expensive items differs between patients whose insurers pay on a closed- or open-ended basis.

Health seeking behavior among insured persons under the Social Security Act, 1990.

Since having health insurance cannot guarantee access to care among the insured persons, their actual health seeking behavior should be evidence reflecting true access. Therefore, the study aimed to present the patterns of health seeking behavior among the insured persons who actually were able to get free services from their registered hospitals under the Social Security Scheme. Purposive sampling was done of 1,003 insured persons who were willing to participate in the study from small, medium and large establishments in the Huai Khwang district in Bangkok.