Experts have said that more attention need to be devoted to the treatment of HBV, in particular as reimbursements for HBV treatments are subject to more stringent requirements compared to that of HCV. National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) Director-general Li Po-chang said that the NHIA has discussed the matter in expert meetings as early as August and proposed a NT$370 million budget to the Pharmaceutical Benefit and Reimbursement Standard (PBRS) Joint Committee to fund five measures to ease reimbursement requirements. However, no consensus was reached in a subsequent National Health Insurance Committee (NHIC), leaving the final decision on the matter to Minister of Health and Welfare (MOHW) Chen Shih-chung.

In Taiwan, the majority liver diseases are caused by HBV and HCV. Following the of the new HCV drugs, the World Health Organization called for the eradication of the disease by 2030, while the MOHW established the Hepatitis C National Office Flagship Program and setting a goal to eradicate HCV by 2025. Director General Lee said the NHIA has strongly supports the initiative to eradicate HCV by 2025 and is nearing the goal. However, in addition to HCV, preventive treatment of HBV is also an important issue.  

Director Lee said that the treatment of HBV is mainly focused on suppressing the virus and lowering the duration of infections. As the modality of treatments for HBV is different than that of HCV, current reimbursement terms for HBV treatments have been discussed in an expert meeting organized by the NHIA in August, resulting in consensus among PBRS members on five proposals to revise reimbursement guidelines.

Respectively, the five proposals are to revise reimbursement terms for patients with active hepatitis according to the pace of viral replication, revise reimbursement terms for long-term drug regimens for patients with liver cirrhosis, revise the reimbursement terms for preventative drug regimens for patients who have not undergone liver transplant, revise the reimbursement terms for liver cancer patients who are able receive curative treatment, as well as adding new reimbursement terms for patients who are able to receive preventative or immunosuppressive therapies.  

NHIA Medical Review and Pharmaceutical Benefits Division Deputy Director Huang Chao-jie said that 3,880 patients are expected to benefit from eased reimbursement terms for HBV treatments, at cost of an additional NT$370 million in National Health Insurance (NHI)expenditure. However, the budget must first be approved by the NHIC before. In a recent NHIC meeting, NHIC members remain divided on approving the added budgets and the case depends on a decision by MOHW Minister Chen. Precedents suggest that the final ruling will be made before the end of the year. 

[2020-10-31/United Daily News]