title: Public and private pharmaceutical spending as determinants of health outcomes in Canada.
abstract: Canadian per capita drug expenditures increased markedly in recent years and have become center stage in the debate on health care cost containment. To inform public policy, these costs must be compared with the benefits provided by these drugs. This paper measures the statistical relationship between drug spending in Canadian provinces and overall health outcomes. The analysis relies on more homogenous data and includes a more complete set of controls for confounding factors than previous studies. Results show a strong statistical relationship between drug spending and health outcomes, especially for infant mortality and life expectancy at 65. This relationship is almost always stronger for private drug spending than for public drug spending. The analysis further indicates that substantially better health outcomes are observed in provinces where higher drug spending occurs. Simulations show that if all provinces increased per capita drug spending to the levels observed in the two provinces with the highest spending level, an average of 584 fewer infant deaths per year and over 6 months of increased life expectancy at birth would result.
authors.affiliation: Analysis Group, Inc., Boston, MA 02199, USA. pcremieux@analysisgroup.com
authors.forename: Pierre-Yves
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Crémieux
authors.forename: Marie-Claude
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Meilleur
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ouellette
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petit
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zelder
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Potvin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002170:Canada; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005380:Financing, Government; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality / Q000639:trends; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D017059:Models, Econometric; D009313:National Health Programs; D012044:Regression Analysis