The National Department of Health (NDoH) has blamed non-compliance, poor data capturing and other reasons for 28 pharmacies not being paid for vaccines that were administered during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pharmacies had administered more than 7m vaccines countrywide since the start of the pandemic, but Independent Community Pharmacy Association of South Africa (ICPA) CEO Jackie Maimin told eNCA some still hadn’t been paid.
She said the department still owed money to 28 pharmacies that vaccinated many uninsured patients.
The Citizen reports that one of the pharmacies, in a rural area, was owed R2.5m, which the department took almost six months to pay.
Department blames non-compliance
Maimin said the claims process took 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, in a statement this week, the department said: “There is no doubt independent pharmacies have been vital partners in ensuring vaccine accessibility across South Africa,” but added that pending invoices were mostly the fault of pharmacies, and not the department.
“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 practise 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 under-dosing 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 help people obtain vaccination certificates, some pharmacies recorded vaccinations for people who got their jab elsewhere, leading to further inaccuracies in the reported vaccination numbers, the department’s statement pointed out.
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.
Additionally, 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.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
SA’s 22 000 pharmacists should be mobilised as vaccinators
State refuses to reimburse pharmacies for extra Pfizer doses
SA Pharmacy Council’s new rules for provision of immunisation services
DoH not reimbursing private pharmacies for vaccinations, as agreed