Important News on LATE PAYMENT OF PHARMACY SERVICES (Minor Ailments & MAR Charts) - Action Needed20/5/2014 Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC met with Chris Sharpe (Finance Director at NECS) and Janette Stephenson recently to discuss the non payment of CCG commissioned services (Minor Ailments & MAR Charts).
Going Forward Following a robust discussion we agreed the following.
Historic Claims - Action Needed Contractors are well aware that they haven’t been paid correctly (if at all) for these professional services dating back to April 2013. Recently contractors resubmitted these claim, however the LPC has discovered that there are still problems with missing data - including professional fees. This will result in further underpayment. The LPC has brought this to NECS attention and asked for this be remedied asap. To this end a pre-popualted form will be sent from NECS in the near future (Next week) for you to double check and add in the missing data. (E.g. April 2013 to April 2014 claims and numbers of prescription forms submitted). Returning this will ensure you are paid promptly and fully for all CCG services delivered between April 2013 and April 2014. (13 months outstanding) We understand this will be frustrating for contractors as this will be the third time you will be submitting this data. The LPC made it perfectly clear that this was unacceptable and NECs have offered an 8% late payment compensatory fee for all outstanding monies. This will be automatically added. NECS have apologised sincerely and have agreed to work over time to process these payments as a matter of urgency. We urge all contractors to return the pre-populated forms as soon as they receive it. We appreciate this situation is not ideal however we believe the outcomes we have agreed will bring this matter to a close.
0 Comments
 Following changes to the processing of pharmacy payments from 1st April 2013, both the PSNC Information Team and the NHS Prescription Services Help Desk have received calls from pharmacy contractors requesting more information. In order to support contractors, details are summarised below: 100% advance payments All pharmacy contractors will now receive a 100% advance payment meaning that they will be refunded for medicines dispensed more promptly. For the June schedule, contractors received a 100% advance payment for the month of April (calculated based upon the average item value from the March bundle and volume from April) plus the outstanding 20% for the March bundle. This means that contractors will have seen a higher than normal payment made in June (when the 100% advance was first implemented), but this will be a one-off. Part I, Clause 5C of the Drug Tariff explains by means of this table (which we have simplified slightly here):  *Due to the transition to the new payment system, in June 2013's payment only, contractors will receive circa 120% payment. **The value of (-) could be a positive, negative or zero. Health Solutions Wales has confirmed that Welsh contractors will remain with 80% advance payments for the time being. The change to 100% is currently under discussion by Community Pharmacy Wales and the Welsh Assembly. The Pharmacy Earlier Payment Scheme (PEPS) The Pharmacy Early Payment Scheme, operated by Citibank, is an opt-in scheme which allows contractors to receive advance funding on attractive interest terms. Only those contractors who register for the scheme and ensure their bundles are received by the NHS BSA by set dates will be able to access the early payments. Part I, Clause 5C of the Drug Tariff explains by means of this table (which we have simplified slightly here):  *If days referred to above fall on a weekend or bank holiday, the next available working day will be applied.
Further support To assist pharmacy contractors in understanding the new details on their Schedule of Payment (FP34), the NHS Business Services Authority have now compiled a help guide for contractors. This can be found on their website. |
Copies of our older Paper Based News Letters (The LPC News) can be found by clicking below.
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
