Page 10 - P4304.1-V97_PS-Magazine-May 2024

The negative

impact of Clawback

By Caroline Pond

There is nothing positive to say about So just what is the impact of clawback on your
clawback as far as I can see. However, that dispensary?
does not mean we can pass it by and not give Well, when you dispense an item the clawback
it our full attention in the dispensary. In fact, is applied to the reimbursement at a rate which
clawback should be at the forefront of all our depends on the value of your total medicines
minds, whether prescribers or dispensers, for and appliance spend in that month.
every prescription for dispensing patients we
generate or dispense. The table below details the clawback rates.
So, who really understands what clawback NHS DRUG SPEND
is if it is so important? Well not everybody it PER MONTH RATE OF DISCOUNT
seems as I get lots of questions around this
at study days. I hope this short article might £1- 2000 3.17%
shed some light on the term ‘clawback’ and £2001 – 4000 5.93%
what it means to you and your profits. £4001 – 6000 7.21%
Clawback, in relation to a dispensing practice
or pharmacy, relates to a deduction that is £6001 – 8000 8.06%
made to your reimbursement payment for the £8001 – 10000 8.68%
cost of drugs by NHS Prescription services. £10001 – 12000 9.19%
In other words, you get back less than you £12001 – 14000 9.60%
claim for when you send your prescriptions
off for payment each month. Why? Because £14001 – 16000 9.97%
the powers that be in the NHS think you are £16001 – 18000 10.29%
flooded with discounts from wholesalers and £18001 – 20000 10.57%
manufacturers, and they want a piece of
that! If we go back a few years then this was £20001 – 22000 10.82%
probably the case – we were able to achieve £22001 – 24000 11.03%
significant discounts from all our suppliers £24000+ 11.18%
and pharmaceutical companies were flush
with special offers and discount schemes, but The majority of dispensing practices spend
sadly in the financially tight environment that over £24,000 per month so basically the
we live in today, this is simply not the case clawback applied will be 11.18%. In other words,
anymore. Pharma is on a budget too and this for every £1 spent you will be reimbursed
impacts us in the dispensary. 88p. Not a great business model in anybody’s
In general practice, clawback is applied to books. The lower rates mostly apply to non-
every prescription item you dispense through dispensing practices who submit low levels of
your dispensary. There are no exceptions, prescriptions for PAs.
unlike pharmacy who can endorse to indicate
that no discount has been received on certain
lines, and so all lines are deducted regardless
of the fact that you will maybe be out of
pocket if the item does not carry a discount
to counter that deduction.

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