28 pharmacies still not paid since Covid due to ‘compliance issues’ – health dept

The Department of Health has responded to complaints raised over the non-payment of pharmacies that administered vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pharmacies administered more than 7 million vaccines countrywide since the start of the pandemic but Independent Community Pharmacy Association of South Africa (ICPA) CEO, Jackie Maimin told eNCA some pharmacies had yet to be paid.

Maimin said the department still owes money to 28 pharmacies that vaccinated many uninsured patients.

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One pharmacy in a rural area was owed R2.5 million and it took the department almost six months to pay them, Maimin said.

“You can imagine a pharmacy that has forked out R2.5 million worth of services and we have to pay our bills in 30 days and we have to wait months and months and months to be paid,” she complained.

Dept argues it’s due to non-compliance

Maimin said the claims process took much longer than expected while the matter rolled over into the next budget period, which did not have the capacity to pay pharmacies. So the department was looking for funding elsewhere.

However, the Health Department said it wanted to provide clarity on this matter, in a statement on Monday.

“There is no doubt that independent pharmacies have been vital partners in ensuring vaccine accessibility across South Africa,” the department said before stating pending invoices were mostly the fault of pharmacies and not the department.

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“One of the reconciliation challenges arose because the ICPA advised pharmacies to extract a seventh dose from Covid-19 vaccine vials using specialised low dead space syringes and needles, a practice not approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) or the Department of Health.

“This approach was discouraged due to the risks of underdosing and potential contamination from mixing vials, which complicated the reconciliation of vaccine stock with doses administered. Despite the potential for increased vaccine efficiency, these challenges led to significant discrepancies in stock management and compliance issues, impacting the accuracy of claims and payments to pharmacies.”

Another reason for inaccurate claims was that vaccinators, working at multiple sites, were not properly verified by the pharmacies, resulting in vaccinations being recorded under incorrect locations.

Not by the book

“Additionally, to assist individuals in obtaining vaccination certificates, some pharmacies recorded vaccinations for people who were vaccinated elsewhere. This practice led to further inaccuracies in the reported vaccination numbers.”

The department also blamed unauthorised stock transfers between pharmacies and pharmacies failing to back-capture paper records when the data system was offline, for complicating the reconciliation of claims.

There were also missing ID numbers, incorrect vaccine details and dates, incorrect intervals between doses, and more reasons for some claims being questioned or rejected.

“The Department continues to work on resolving these discrepancies to ensure accurate and fair payments,” it said.

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