The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7175 p733-738
24 November 2001

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News summary

Small rise in discount clawback

The average discount clawback for pharmacy contractors in England and Wales is to rise slightly from 11.01 to 11.28 per cent of the standard discount rated net ingredient cost (SDR NIC). But a restructuring of the discount scale means that smaller contractors (those with a monthly SDR NIC of below £21,750) will have a lower clawback liability than under the current scale.

The new discount scale was announced by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee on 19 November after it had finally agreed the results of the October 2000 discount inquiry with the Department of Health. To recover an estimated underpayment of £10.8m since the inquiry date, a further 0.19 per cent is to be added to the target clawback for 12 months from 1 December, thereby setting a required clawback scale of 11.47 per cent for that period.

The current target discount percentage of 11.01 arises from a discount inquiry in April 1998.

The Department of Health wants to hold its next discount inquiry in March 2002.

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