OBJECTIVES: A large number of anti-cancer drugs have been admitted to the health insurance catalog through "National Reimbursement Drug List Negotiation (NRDLN)", alleviating to some extent the disease and economic burden of cancer patients. This paper takes the use of NRDLN anti-cancer drugs in hospitals in a first-tier city in Northeast China as the entry point, with the aim to analyze the hospital management and patient use of anti-cancer drugs under the NRDLN background in this city, and provide suggestions for any issues identified.

METHODS: We extracted data on anti-cancer drugs included in NRDLN from 2016 to 2020 in the city, and analyzed their use and drug utilization. Statistical methods employed were Chi-square test and K-W test.

RESULTS: The quantity and cost of anti-cancer drugs showed an increasing trend from 2018 to 2021. The ranking ratio (ranking of drug cost/ranking of its DDDs) of goserelin was the highest, indicating the higher clinical utilization rate. Statistically, the differences in usage quantity and cost of anti-cancer drugs among various groups were significant. Cancer patients typically choose to seek treatment in tertiary hospitals and buy drugs in retail pharmacies; the usage quantity and cost of drugs for urban employee basic medical insurance beneficiaries were 5 times that of rural and urban residents' basic medical insurance. In terms of drug utilization, DDDs and DDDc were closely related, with the highest DDDs for drugs admitted in 2016 and the greatest change in DDDc for drugs admitted in 2018.

CONCLUSIONS: Under the NRDLN background, the use of anti-cancer drugs continues to increase, but there remain some issues from the perspective of patient treatment behavior. In the future, health insurance should further improve its work by promoting fairness in healthcare resources and strengthening the supervision of health insurance funds, so that NRDLN benefits more insured persons.