News » DM Zone news, England, Wales » New arrangements for Category A from April
March 11th 2024
Under new arrangements, from April reimbursement prices for Category A of the Drug Tariff for England and Wales will be set differently.
Replacing previous arrangements where the reimbursement prices in Category A were set as the weighted average of the list prices of several suppliers, the Category A changes will be based on information from suppliers obtained under the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018.
In the new arrangements, all available pack sizes of licensed generic medicines will be considered in pricing Category M. The new arrangements will be phased in from 1 April 2024 over six quarters.
The changes form part of a series of drug reimbursement reforms proposed by DHSC following a public consultation in 2019.
According to Community Pharmacy England, DHSC’s decision, determined by ministers, is primarily focussed on an ambition to equalise access to margin on Category A medicines.
CPE says it did not support the introduction of the changes at this time because of the unknown impact of the changes on an already turbulent medicines supply chain.
Mike Dent, CPE director of pharmacy funding, said: “Community pharmacies are weighed down by long-standing funding pressures and already struggling to keep up with the large number of medicines supply issues: there is little to be gained and much to lose when we can’t predict how the market may react to these changes.”
