S.I. No. 246 of 2009

HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (REDUCTION OF PAYMENTS TO COMMUNITY PHARMACY CONTRACTORS) REGULATIONS 2009

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

"Iris Oifigiúil" of 7th July, 2009.

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Health and Children, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 9 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 (No. 5 of 2009), having complied with subsections (4) and (7) of that section, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments to Community Pharmacy Contractors) Regulations 2009.

2. In these Regulations-

"community pharmacy contractor" means a registered pharmacist, company or other body corporate that provides services to the Health Service Executive under an agreement made in accordance with conditions specified by the Minister for Health and Children in 1971 or 1996 for the provision of community pharmacy services to eligible persons under section 59 of the Health Act 1970 , as amended from time to time;

"controlled drug" has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (No. 12 of 1977);

"ex-factory price" with respect to a particular drug item at a particular time, means the price of that drug item determined in accordance with the relevant agreements in force at that time between the Health Service Executive and representative bodies of manufacturers and importers of such items;

"fridge item" means a drug item which must be kept in refrigerated storage conditions of between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius as stated in the summary of product characteristics for that item;

"ingredient cost" means-

(a) in the case of controlled drugs and fridge items, the ex-factory price together with a wholesale mark-up of 17.66 per cent; and

(b) in the case of any other drug item, the ex-factory price together with a wholesale mark-up as specified in Tables 2 and 3 below.

3. These Regulations shall apply to payments in respect of services rendered by a community pharmacy contractor to or on behalf of the Health Service Executive in respect of the dispensing of drug and non-drug items by a registered pharmacist under the General Medical Services Scheme, the Drug Payment Scheme, the Long-Term Illness Scheme, the European Economic Area Scheme and the Health (Amendment) Act 1996 Scheme.

4. The payments (other than reimbursement of ingredient costs and retail mark-up for non-drug items and reimbursement of ingredient costs for controlled drugs and fridge items) that shall be made to a community pharmacy contractor in respect of the services referred to in Regulation 3 from the date of the making of these Regulations shall be those specified in Tables 1, 2 and 3 below.

The Minister for Finance consents to the foregoing Regulations.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

1 July 2009

BRIAN LENIHAN,

Minister for Finance.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

1 July 2009

MARY HARNEY,

Minister for Health and Children.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

These Regulations are to give effect to reductions in payments to Community Pharmacy Contractors as provided for in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 .