AOK calls for expanded tender criteria for discount contracts

26.11.2021 16:25

"We welcome the fact that the negotiating partners of the future traffic light coalition have taken up the important issue of security of supply with pharmaceuticals in the coalition agreement," says Johannes Bauernfeind, CEO of AOK Baden-Württemberg. The negotiator of the nationwide tenders for drug discount agreements of the AOK community would also like greater freedom of action for the design of generic drug tenders.

“Politicians should work to ensure that we can use our options to increase the availability of medicines. Robust supply chains must become a possible tender criterion. To achieve this, the future federal government must make a strong commitment to European policy,” continued Bauernfeind.

The coalition is also accommodating the statutory health insurance companies about the plans to further develop the Law on the Reorganization of the Drug Market (AMNOG) and to strengthen the options for the health insurance companies to limit drug prices. Bauernfeind also welcomed the intention to apply the negotiated reimbursement price from the seventh month after entering the market. However, this does not affect the continued high importance of the discount agreements in the generic market, emphasizes AOK boss Bauernfeind. “The coalition partners have put efficient and decentralized stocking of pharmaceuticals and medical devices on their list of tasks with a health security law. We have been emphasizing the importance of stocking up for a long time.” In the course of the Corona crisis, the AOK community tightened the stocking obligation of its contractual partners again. To protect against production and delivery failures, manufacturers now have to set up permanent drug reserves for three months. This reserve may only be used up in the last quarter of the contract.

Bauernfeind: “The discount agreements are a guarantee of security of supply. Delivery difficulties arise primarily as a result of problems in the production facilities, but also due to non-transparent supply chains. The AOK is therefore committed to a fully-fledged early warning system with mandatory reports about delivery bottlenecks. In this context, we also support the initiative of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), which is striving for extended delivery bottleneck management with AI approaches. We brought the BfArM into discussion years ago as a trust center against delivery bottlenecks.”