27 October 2004
It has come to the attention of the National Department of Health that pharmacies are charging an across the board administration fee to medical schemes. We consider this to be contrary to the spirit of the regulations and cannot be supported.
It is reasonable for a pharmacist to argue that a fee is needed for the photocopy of script that the medical scheme requires. Clearly this fee should be related to the cost of a photocopy and billed as such a service. However, certain pharmacists are currently charging an across the board administration fee which is percentage based. This is unacceptable since an administration service is related to the service provided to a specific patient and this fee should be related to the type of service (eg photocopy, telephone call, delivery etc) and will vary from patient to patient.
If schemes are to consider paying for these services, then these services should be itemised and the cost of each item should be clearly stated, for example, cost of photocopy 25 cents, cost of telephone call 50 cents etc.
The administration fee cannot be a percentage of the price of a medicine since the price of a medicine is unrelated to the cost of a photocopy or a telephone call.
Dispensing fees, regulated by the Medicine Control Act, relates to the review of a prescription, compilation, packing and labelling of the medicine and advising the patient on how to use the drug and any related counselling.
Please contact my office should you require clarification on this issue.
Dr Anban Pillay Director Pharmaceutical Economic Evaluations
Department of Health
Telephone: (012) 312-3290 / 0374