Managing the introduction of new and high-cost drugs in challenging times: the experience of Hungary and Poland

Hungary and Poland are currently facing budgetary pressures to reduce health and pharmaceutical spending. However, they still must ensure that valuable innovative medicines are made available to patients. Risk-sharing schemes (RSSs) are a mechanism to achieve access, particularly for high-cost innovative medicines that payers might be reluctant to fund because of uncertainty around their cost-effectiveness in real life. RSSs can be designed to distribute financial risks, risks relating to health outcomes or a combination of both. Due to fiscal imperatives and complexities linked to the implementation of health outcome-based schemes, both countries have focused mainly on financial RSSs.