The use of pharmacoeconomic tool has grown dramatically in the past decade as the provision of healthcare throughout the industrialized world has required increased cost consciousness. However, pharmacoeconomic analysis has not yet been fully exploited as a conceptual underpinning for public and private health policy decision in China. In this article, we will demonstrate why pharmacoeconomics should become an increasingly important tool for health decision making as a number of significant dynamics, including: (ⅰ) high price of pharmaceuticals; (ⅱ) misuse of pharmaceuticals; and (ⅲ) need of pharmaceutical industries. However, there are also some issues that hinder the sufficient utilization of pharmacoeconomics in healthcare decision making among all levels, such as insufficient experts, influence of pharmacoeconomics and lack of guidelines. Therefore, pharmacoeconomics should be introduced into health reform and some efforts should be done to assist domestic decision makers to enhance the continual development and sufficient utilization of pharmacoeconomics in healthcare decision-making in China.
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