EOPYY limits doctors’ choices of medicines
In the next step in the government’s efforts to limit waste and corruption with regard to prescription medicines, doctors using the electronic prescription scheme will face a limited choice of drugs that they can recommend for certain ailments.
As of Tuesday, doctors were issued with “protocols” that inform them about which medicines they can prescribe for diabetes, dyslipidemia, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and neurological disorders to patients who will be claiming the money for these drugs from the country’s main healthcare provider, EOPYY.
The medicines prescribed for these illnesses account for about 50 percent of EOPYY’s total outlay on drugs each year. Last month, it emerged that EOPYY would likely miss its overall spending target of 470 million euros for 2013 and that it owed some 500 million euros to pharmacists and clinics.
As a result, the organization has stepped up its efforts to tackle waste and graft. It recently called on around 90 doctors to explain why they issued a higher number of prescriptions than the organization had planned for. Inspectors had earlier checked some 53 million euros’ worth of prescriptions that were issued in the first six months of the year and paid for by EOPYY.
