Disentangling prescribing behaviour of Cypriot physicians, within a complex framework of interacting

Abstract The purpose of the study is to investigate how physicians' prescribing behaviour in Cyprus adopts to the fragmented healthcare system and to the inadequacies of pharmaceutical market in times of economic crisis. A survey was carried out in using a postal questionnaire administered to a stratified sample of 320 physicians. The questionnaire used was the same with the one used in 2007 survey carried out in Greece and Cyprus, along with complementary questions for prescribing within economic crisis. The comparative analysis and assessment of the findings from the two surveys revealed that the current system and the inadequacies of pharmaceutical market in Cyprus expose physicians to a contrasting environment of public and private sector in terms of incentives, governance principles, financing and market structure. In contrast to public sector prescribers who have behaved in accordance with the governance principles, there is a strong motivation for private sector physicians to favour new branded products, and generally rejecting any ideas that could limit their clinical autonomy. Economic crisis seems to be unilaterally influential, as public sector physicians became more cost conscious while private sector prescribing is still resisting due to strong financial incentives.