Prescriptions for expensive medicines under the General Healthcare System (GHS) have risen by more than 50 per cent, affecting the cost of the stock pharmacies need to serve patients without delays, the head of the Pancyprian Pharmaceutical Association said.
Private pharmacies were carrying out a sustainability study, and the association was preparing to put the results to the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) for new negotiations, Ploutarchos Georgiades told Phileleftheros. Several issues had created a very difficult situation for private pharmacies, he said, and they wanted solid data to back their positions, views and demands when the time came to negotiate.
Among those issues is the reimbursement of consumables and medical supplies, some of them expensive, which pharmacists were raising yet again. During the pandemic, to meet the emergency needs of the time, pharmacists agreed that these items would be reimbursed on the same basis as medicines. But some consumables and medical equipment cost thousands of euros. At present, “even if the pharmacist paid 1,000 euros, they will be reimbursed 1.60 euros,” Georgiades said. Pharmacists must then wait for the HIO to pay the cost, which he said affected pharmacies’ liquidity and, by extension, their smooth running.
The issue had been under discussion with the HIO for some time, and efforts were being made to find a solution, he added.
As prescribing shifted towards the most expensive drugs on the GHS list, pharmacists adjusted their orders to match, which changed their costs. Those costs needed to be covered from the pharmacists’ budget within the system, Georgiades said.
Citing problems with dispensing prescriptions, the association believes doctors should prescribe the active substance rather than a specific brand. This would give patients more flexibility, Georgiades argued, as many ask to keep taking the medicine they were on before, even if they have to pay a co-payment, rather than switch to the cheaper equivalent on the GHS list chosen by their doctor.
