Austerity measures continue to bite in Spain

LONDON, UK, 26 August 2011 – Proceur Ltd continues to note increasing austerity measures impacting the ability to deliver sustainable healthcare services across the European Union.Today, one of Spain’s 17 regional autonomous governments (Castilla-La Mancha) has run out of cash, according to the Financial Times – with one symptom being that pharmacy operators have not been reimbursed for over €150 million of medicines dispensed since May.

This situation, and the risk of similar events across Spain and other European Union countries, increases the need for better management of the healthcare supply chain, creating the basis for rational pricing of goods and services, and ensuring fair reimbursement for both public and private suppliers to the healthcare system.Proceur Ltd is supporting healthcare services organisations meet these challenges by helping them understand their procurement needs, consolidate spending and improving efficiency and margins in the face of top-line pressures.

Across Spain, the Spanish Pharmacists Federation expects public healthcare spending to continue falling in real terms until 2013, dropping 8% each in 2011 and 2012.In addition all branded medicines with no generic equivalent have been subject to unilateral 15% price cuts, with doctors now mandated to prescribe by active ingredient instead of brand.Some regional authorities are also requiring hospital-based doctors’ prescriptions to be fulfilled only by the hospital pharmacy – at the expense of independent providers.

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About Proceur Ltd

Proceur brings European healthcare buyers and suppliers closer together.We help healthcare services organisations better manage their procurement expenditure by reducing complexity and cost, allowing savings to be reinvested in service expansion.For suppliers, the European customer base remains highly fragmented – with over 50,000 healthcare locations across 27 countries.Proceur rationalises market access costs through our proprietary buying network.The company was founded in 2011 by Martin Whitbread, an expert in healthcare services with over a decade in the industry as an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.For more information, visit www.proceur.com.

For further information please contact:

Proceur Ltd

Martin Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer+44 20 72 22 22 90 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.