Essentials of Endorsing

[Pharmanaut]

One for our friend Bobbin, or any other drug tariff devotee...
Put aside the CIP thing for the moment....
Post also refers to endorsing what has been supplied, not different packs etc etc to take advantage.

In a conversation today, I mentioned that I endorse minimally according to the drug tariff.
If an endorsement is not necessary, I don't do one.
The colleague discussing this says that they always endorse literally everything, and that I'm losing money because of it.

Now I'm thinking why over endorsing is wrong?
Anyone suggest any reasons?

[LeftArm]

The majority of prescriptions require no endorsement at all and the Business Services Authority will ignore any that are not required.

[bobbin]

One for our friend Bobbin, or any other drug tariff devotee...
Put aside the CIP thing for the moment....
Post also refers to endorsing what has been supplied, not different packs etc etc to take advantage.

In a conversation today, I mentioned that I endorse minimally according to the drug tariff.
If an endorsement is not necessary, I don't do one.
The colleague discussing this says that they always endorse literally everything, and that I'm losing money because of it.

Now I'm thinking why over endorsing is wrong?
Anyone suggest any reasons?

One of me? Why thank you.

I'm sure you're not losing money. Most items require no endorsement at all and ALL items will be paid unless they have been clearly market ND. If an item which requires an endorsement does not have one, one of two things will happen....

1. If only the pack size endorsement is missing (and there are multiple pack sizes in the DT) eg. for paracetamol tabs, the PPD will not return the script. They will pay you based on the pack size that they assume you have used. If there is a pack size equivalent to the prescribed quantity, you will be paid for that. If there is not, you will be paid for the larger pack size in the tariff.

2. If information is missing apart from the pack size eg. have you given Climaval or Progynova for estradiol valerate (?), the script will be returned to the contractor for clarification.

Some pharmacists seem to add unnecessary endorsements for product in Part VIII of the DT, thinking that it will somehow increase their payments eg. endorsing 'Crestor' for rosuvastatin scripts. The PPD simply ignores this type of endorsement because they are not necessary.

RE CIP.... CIP works on the basis that most items do not require an endorsment. If the scanner detects an item which does require an endorsement eg. estradiol valerate, the script gets booted out of the system and sent to an operator. The result of this is that most endorsements are not even read.

Bobbin

PS. Be careful endorsing specials. The PPA like you to endose the 'Basic Price' because it makes things easier for them. The Basic Price is the total price of the entire prescribed quantity (before rebate and excluding VAT) eg. if the script was for lisinopril solution 10mg/5ml, 2 x 150ml, the Basic Price would be the total price for 300ml. Any OOP expenses must be endorsed seperately and recorded on the FP34c (after adding up the month's expenses). If you endorse the expenses on the Rx but do not include on the FP34c, the expenses will NOT be paid!! This is because the PPD do not actually use the scripts to pay OOP expenses, but still require endorsments for audit purposes.

PPS. Part of the reason that the PPD don't like pharmacists to add excessive endorsements is that they tend to write unnecessary information which goes over into the doctor's area of the script. This causes the script to be rejected by their computer system and increases operator workload.

[Pharmanaut]

Thanks for such a prompt reply.
So the response is ... it is just a waste of time endorsing everything.
Just do the ones that need an endorsement.
Which is what is being done at the moment.
Thanks for the hint about specials.

[bobbin]

Thanks for such a prompt reply.
So the response is ... it is just a waste of time endorsing everything.
Just do the ones that need an endorsement.
Which is what is being done at the moment.
Thanks for the hint about specials.

Yes, any excess information is a waste of time. Endorsing 'Basic price' for total quant. is useful because it avoids the need for the PPD operatives to do any calculations, which could result in (expensive) payment errors (especially if said operator is tired and fed up, which would be understandable, especially when trying to find the necessary info in a mass of excess endorsements)!

Apparently, the PPD get a lot of scripts for 'specials' where a price has been endorsed without any reference to what the price actually refers to. Could it be the price per pack? Or maybe the price for the total quantity? Or perhaps the OOP expenses? Or maybe some combination of the above? Has VAT be included in error? Who knows, the person endorsing didn't know what they were doing. It's very bad for cash flow when expensive items have to be resubmitted due to missing info

[Sir_Dispensalot]

for specials i tend to put price + the oope price and then put "+ VAT". Stuff seems to get paid right most of the time. If it's a ridiculously high priced special (quetiapine suspension comes to mind!) i tend to shove it in with the red CIP broken bulk bundle - that way i can be sure it's going to be hand checked and not accidentally slip through the computer readers. And burden shmurden to the operators - when the price of a special is getting damned close to a thousand quid i want to make bloody sure it gets checked!

[bobbin]

for specials i tend to put price + the oope price and then put "+ VAT". Stuff seems to get paid right most of the time. If it's a ridiculously high priced special (quetiapine suspension comes to mind!) i tend to shove it in with the red CIP broken bulk bundle - that way i can be sure it's going to be hand checked and not accidentally slip through the computer readers. And burden shmurden to the operators - when the price of a special is getting damned close to a thousand quid i want to make bloody sure it gets checked!

Apparently, the PPD operators initially look through the 'red pile' and highlight BB claims and split calender packs in purple highlighter to cause the scanner to reject. The don't highlight specials and so you are relying on the fact that the scanner should reject all specials because they require an endorsement....... if your endorsement was large and inside the doctors area, that would also cause the scanner to reject. I recommend large and unambiguous endorsements for specials!

[mrmeds]

i've endorsed my latest betaferon with ''' please pay me on time or i will be very unhappy'', along with every other concievable bit of information so they've got NO EXCUSE for sending it back.

[dizzyb23]

Bobbin
You are an amazing source of useful info. I was really s**** at endorsing so ta v much for your help. It actually looks like I know what i'm doing now.

[bobbin]

Bobbin
You are an amazing source of useful info. I was really s**** at endorsing so ta v much for your help. It actually looks like I know what i'm doing now.

Why thank you