Drug Policy in Croatia

Abstract

We presented a general overview of the health care system as well as the pricing and reimbursement environment in Croatia. In Croatia, most of the public funding for health care is collected from employers, through mandatory health care contributions for all the employed citizens. This contribution is a dedicated tax reserved for the health care system derived from employees' salaries. The rest of the public funds is mainly from taxes used by the Ministry of Finance to complement the overall health budget each year. The population is covered by a basic health insurance plan provided by statute and optional insurance, administered by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund. Reimbursement decisions are based on the Ordinance of Ministry of Health issued in 2013, which is an ordinance establishing the criteria for inclusion of medicinal products in the Croatian Health Insurance Fund basic and supplementary drug lists. A health technology assessment agency was established in 2007 as a legal, public, independent, nonprofit institution under the Act on Quality of Health Care. Budget impact analysis is obligatory, and cost-effectiveness analysis is beneficial. Two reimbursement lists exist: the basic (100% drug coverage) and the supplementary (co-payment from 10% to 90%) lists. The basic list covers both hospital and retail drugs. There is also a special drug list for expensive drugs (mainly hospital drugs). International reference pricing is also in place. List updates are done on an yearly basis. Real-world evidence can be required for health technology assessment as evidence for the budget impact models and cost-effective analysis; it is, however, not mandatory.

Keywords: Croatia; health care system; pharmaceutical system; pricing; reimbursement.