IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CAPACITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME BY THE PRESCRIPTION PRICING DIVISION

The Prescription Pricing Division (PPD) has introduced a Capacity Improvement Programme (CIP) to process prescriptions and to establish the reimbursement and remuneration due to dispensing contractors.

CIP utilises high-speed scanning equipment and intelligent character recognition (ICR) software to automate the capture of printed information from prescription forms. The information captured by scanning is then processed by an automated ‘rules engine’ to determine the payment due to contractors. CIP will replace the existing PPD computer systems ensuring that prescriptions are priced within the required time scales, despite increasing prescription volumes.

Prescriptions that are not identified by the ICR software or processed by the “rules engine” and prescriptions requiring clarification of the reimbursement claim (e.g. brand or quantity dispensed) are fed to an "exception handling" process. This process involves a person examining the prescription and deciding, as now, the reimbursement due to the contractor.

Only a small number of pharmacy contractor accounts will be processed via CIP at this early stage. The PPD expects to process significantly more accounts with future releases of CIP and there will be a gradual roll out to all dispensing contractors.

Individual dispensing contractors will be contacted before the PPD initiates processing of their accounts using CIP.