Generic medicine reimbursement: adjustment to prices from January 2016

Posted on:

NHS England has announced an adjustment to category M drug prices from January 2016. In the announcement they have said:

“While the out-turn for 2015/16 cannot be quantified robustly until full year data has been collected and assessed, DH and PSNC have agreed it is prudent to decrease generic medicine reimbursement prices (Category M) from January 2016 by £15 million per month for the last three months of the financial year. The Drug Tariff will be amended from January 2016, to reflect this change. This change will also affect dispensing doctors”

Early calculations done by the NECS Medicines Optimisation team suggests an average reduction of approximately 17 pence per prescription item, or 2.1% of spend per month on the prescribing budget. These figures may vary between CCGs depending on local prescribing trends, but this should give some indication of the potential impact of this change.

Further information can be found on the NHS England website.