Healthcare professionals’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards National Centralized Drug Procurement policy in central China: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: National Centralized Drug Procurement (NCDP), an ongoing government-led policy starting in 2019 in China, aimed at reducing drug costs. During the implementation of NCDP, healthcare professionals (HCPs) still have a certain degree of concern about the policy, which affects the clinical use of related drugs.Objective: This study aims to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of HCPs towards NCDP policy, together with the associated factors that determine their KAP.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September and November of 2021 in 30 hospitals in Hubei province in Central China. A self-designed online questionnaire including KAP towards NCDP policy was administered to HCPs. Logistic regression analysis was adopted to identify the factors associated with KAP.Results: A Total of, 742 HCPs completed the questionnaires. 43.4% of HCPs had good knowledge, 24.7% had a positive attitude, and 23.7% held good practice. Through multivariate logistic regression analysis, HCPs who are males, pharmacists, with senior professional titles and 6–10 years of professional working experience contributed to a higher knowledge level. Pharmacists and HCPs with good knowledge were more likely to have positive attitudes, while HCPs with higher education were less likely to have positive attitudes. Pharmacists, HCPs who had 11–20 years of professional working experience, worked in medium-size urban areas or had good knowledge were more likely to have good practice. Good practice is also associated with the positive attitude towards the efficacy of centralized-purchased medicines and impacts of NCDP policy.Conclusion: Only a small percentage of HCPs had good KAP towards NCDP policy. Pharmacists showed better KAP than physicians. The positive attitude towards the efficacy of centralized-purchased medicines and impacts of NCDP policy contributed to better practice. High-quality clinical evidence on the therapeutic effects and safety of the centralized-purchased drugs is needed.

Dentists’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards National Centralized dental implants Procurement policy in China: A cross-sectional study

“…support this policy. Compared to the previous understanding of the policy of centralized drug collection, dentists had a higher awareness of the policy of centralized implant collection [12].…”

“…We used PASS 11.0 to calculate the sample size.There has been no previous research investigating the awareness rate of dentists regarding the policy of centralized dental implant procurement, so we referred to previous study reported that knowledge rate of doctors about drug centralized procurement policy which was 62.5% [12]. And we set α = 0.05, β = 0.1.…”

Impact of China’s National Centralized Drug Procurement Policy on pharmaceutical enterprises’ financial performance: a quasi-natural experimental study

“…At the same time, thanks to strong policy advocacy, patient recognition and trust regarding the bid-winning drugs continue to grow, despite the bias among some patients against generics prior to NCDP implementation. In public medical institutions, the incentive mechanism related to the agreed usage of the bid-winning drugs and the practice of supporting medical insurance policies have both increased clinicians' willingness to use bid-winning drugs (51). In the long run, the drug use structure of public medical institutions and the drug consumption habits of patients will further change, and the bid-winning enterprises will establish brand effects without spending money on advertising.…”

Study on the Influence of National Centralized Drug Procurement on Drug Use in Hospitals in Border Areas—Take Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Region of Xinjiang Autonomous Region as an Example

“…In November 2018, 11 pilot cities for centralized drug procurement including Beijing and Tianjin were established, which was the "4 + 7" volume procurement that caused a stir in the industry [9] . [10]…”