Are you leaving money on the table or are you robbing the taxpayer blind?
The non-dispensing fee is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the cummunity drug schemes. When it comes to claiming this fee, the pharmacies tend to act in a very bipolar way. They either always claim for it or they never claim for it, neither of which is correct of course. This brings up the question of when should you claim the €3.27 non-dispensing GMS fee? And what about the High-Tech patient care fee of €31.02?
Claiming for the High-Tech Non-Dispensed Patient Care Fee
You are entitled to claim a High-Tech patient care fee for up to three months following the last dispensing of a High-Tech medicine, provided you are still the nominated pharmacy for this patient and there is a valid reason for the non-dispensing.
To claim the fee, you must submit a valid reason i.e. “Patient is in hospital”, “Patient had sufficient medication” etc. If you fail to state an appropriate reason, the fee payment may be rejected. If you claim electronically, make sure you record this reason on your claim file. Contact your vendor’s help desk if you're usure how to do this. Check your High-Tech patient files against your HSE PCRS Claim Summary Listing to ensure that you have been paid correctly.
Claiming a Non-Dispensing Fee on GMS Rxs
HSE PCRS have gotten very picky during their inspections in relation to owings, which were left on the system but never collected. This was the simplest way to handle items for which you were unsure whether the patient will want to collect them or not. Because this was done en-masse the PCRS had to put a stop to it. That does not mean that you can't still claim the non-dispensing fee though.
A non-dispensing fee may be claimed where the pharmacist decides that in his/her professional opinion, a particular item should not be dispensed on that occasion, i.e. where the patient already has a sufficient supply. In order to correctly claim this fee, be sure to record the reason for non-dispensing in the window that pops up, otherwise your claim may be rejected. You must also record this reason on the Rx form itself.