A different number of tablets from an annual e-prescription. Pharmacies in the starting blocks

Even though the annual e-prescription is supposed to make life easier for chronically ill patients, in practice it generates numerous difficulties for patients and pharmacists. Since November 1, 2023, pharmacists have been struggling with calculating the correct number of pills, as their regulations oblige them to make sure that the patient does not want to buy the prescribed medicines too early. Under the law, patients could purchase medications for a maximum of 120 days, and they could purchase the next round after another 90 days.

Taking into account the different number of tablets in the packages, drug doses are difficult to calculate precisely. Another complication is the assignment of an annual e-prescription to only one pharmacy. On April 7, this situation will change to a slightly easier one. The system will take into account the actual sizes of packages entered in the Register of Medicinal Products. This is very important in the case of medications that cannot be dispensed perfectly for 120 days of therapy.

Annual e-prescriptions under new rules

According to information published by eZdrowie, the new system will adjust the quantity of the product dispensed to the available packaging variants. For the drug in packs of 50 and 100 tablets, the pharmacist will be able to dispense 150 tablets in a single dispensing if this suits the dosage schedule.

In the case of the preparation available only in packages of 28 and 56 tablets, it will be possible to dispense, for example, 140 tablets. It is the drugs in packages of 28, 50 and 56 tablets that have been the most problematic so far.

However, the new system will not automatically cover substitutes of the drug indicated in the e-prescription, but only different package sizes of the same medicinal product.

e-Prescriptions still tied to one pharmacy

In the case of reimbursed e-prescriptions, the system will only take into account reimbursed packaging. In the case of full-price prescriptions, the scope will be broader and will cover all registered packaging of a given product. In practice, this means that for the same drug, the system may indicate a different quantity to be dispensed depending on whether the prescription was issued with or without reimbursement.

The Ministry of Health announced that the solution is being evaluated in four pharmacies and will ultimately be operational throughout the country. This is about the possibility of dispensing one annual e-prescription in different pharmacies. Sthe system still forces patients to fill subsequent packages of the same medicine only in the pharmacy where e-prescription was started.