Joint procurement and the EU perspective

Health systems are globally facing an urgent need for the control of drug expenditure to decrease pressure on health care financial resources. Hence, when striving for cost-efficiency, health care purchasers may experiment new ways of organizing health services. Joint Procurement (JP) is argued to be one such way to respond to this need. Legal and practical aspects of JP schemes have been developed at the European level. The JP procedure has to be preceded by a Joint Procurement Agreement between the parties, determining the operational arrangements and the decision-making process. The major questions arising from the implementation of JP agreements are mainly related to price, to the number of subjects joining the agreement and the modifications likely to occur in the market and to the quality standards that should be satisfied. This chapter was to summarizes the main features of JP as an innovative contracting scheme in pharmaceutical markets.