JANUARY

SWITZERLAND
To control pharmaceutical costs, coverage decisions on all new medicines are subject to evaluation of their
effectiveness (by Swissmedic) and cost (by the FOPH). Efforts are being made to reassess more frequently the
prices of older drugs. Depending on national market volume, generics must be sold for 20 to 50 percent less
than the original brand. In addition to the aforementioned 20 percent coinsurance for brand-name drugs,
pharmacists are paid flat amounts for prescriptions, so they have no financial incentive to dispense more
expensive drugs.
What major innovations and reforms have been introduced?
As discussed throughout this profile, the Health2020 agenda outlines important national topics, objectives, and
measures for improving quality of life, promoting equal opportunity and self-responsibility, ensuring and
enhancing quality of care, and creating more transparency, better governance, and more coordination.
In concrete terms, the SFC realized the following nine priorities in 2014 (SFC, 2015):
• Adoption of the message (i.e., official explaining text of SFC) concerning the federal law of cancer registries
(implementation date of law: not before 2018;
• Submission for public consultation of the preliminary draft of a federal law concerning a national health quality
institute in SHI (new proposal made by the Swiss Federal Council, with open date for implementation);
• Submission for public consultation of a partial revision of the federal law on SHI concerning better control
of the outpatient sector, more control of health care cost, and better assurance of health care quality
(implementation date of law: mid-2016);
• Submission for public consultation of the preliminary draft of a federal law concerning non-ionizing radiation
and sound waves (implementation date of law: open);
• Submission for public consultation of the preliminary draft of a federal law concerning tobacco products
(implementation date of law: open);
• Adoption of regulation on the adjustments of tariff structures in SHI (regulation introduced: October 2014);
• Adoption of the results of a public consultation on the federal law concerning health professionals
(implementation date of law: open);
• Adoption of the results of a report on the current state of and need for action to support caring relatives;
• Recognition of the results of the new constitutional article concerning primary health care and plans to enact
it (implementation date: open).
The Swiss Health Observatory (Obsan) is currently creating an indicator system to evaluate the effects of all
measures proposed by the Health2020 agenda.
The author would like to acknowledge David Squires as a contributing author to earlier versions of this profile.
168
The Commonwealth Fund