HSE Drug Price Reductions.

Marvic

Can anyone tell me what you might pay over the counter for these reduced price drugs please. Is there a mark up plus dispensing fee to be added.Just using the following from the HSE list as examples

Price to wholesale 1 April 2011
Reimbursement Price1 April 2011
15709
Buscopan Tabs. 10 mg. 56
56
€1.21
€1.33
39066
Pentasa Sachets 1 G. 50
50
€38.63
€42.49
59080
Pentasa PR Tabs. 500 mg. 100
100
€32.53
€35.78
36801
Persantin Retard Perlongets 200 mg. 60
60
€10.24
€11.26
13301
Asasantin Retard Caps. 25 mg. 60
60
€9.98
€10.98

deepimpact

First, you need a prescription from a doctor for those items as they are prescription only, not over the counter.

Second, there is a mark-up and dispensing fee applied to all medicines. Those costs you have listed (the lower of the two, you can disregard the upper one) are the reimbursement price* for the medicines under the GMS (medical card scheme, 0% markup). The final cost would vary between individual pharmacies according to the pricing model used. It is best to bring the prescription into a number of local pharmacies to request a quote.

* It should be noted that the new reimbursement prices are about 8% lower than the invoiced price from the wholesaler i.e. the pharmacy pays 100 euro for a drug, they get around 92 euro back under the GMS (not including fee, although the fee combined would still be less than the price paid by the pharmacy).

amjon.

scanlant wrote: »

* It should be noted that the new reimbursement prices are about 8% lower than the invoiced price from the wholesaler i.e. the pharmacy pays 100 euro for a drug, they get around 92 euro back under the GMS (not including fee, although the fee combined would still be less than the price paid by the pharmacy).

Since when has this been happening? So pharmacies are making a net loss on GMS patients? I find this hard to believe!

deepimpact

amjon. wrote: »

Since when has this been happening? So pharmacies are making a net loss on GMS patients? I find this hard to believe!

FEMPI round 1 in 2009, then round 2 on March 31 this year.

It depends on the discount at wholesaler level, but the gross profit on the GMS fixed fee turns into a couple of euro after FEMPI, if pharmacies have appropriate buying patterns. Then consider light, heat, staff, rent, rates etc in a high GMS area.

Nonoperational

Not a whole lot to be made on GMS in fairness. Wholesaler discount on most items is about 10% though, it's not loss making either.