Drug Tariff

The Drug Tariff details the amount paid to contractors for services including both reimbursement (i.e. the cost of drugs and appliances supplied against a prescription form) and remuneration (i.e. professional fees and allowances). The Drug Tariff is produced monthly by the Business Services Organisation (BSO).

The online drug tariff can be accessed here

Revised Discounting Arrangements

From January 2024 prescriptions, the discount deduction applied to pharmacy contractors monthly total of reimbursement prices will be transitioning to new arrangements. Under the new arrangements, which will be fully in place by April 2025, there will be three product groups each with their own fixed deduction rates which will be applied to monthly reimbursement prices of the products in that group, as set out below:

Discount Rate 1 (18.48%) Generics: Products listed in Part I, Category A and M of the Drug Tariff (excludes products granted price concessions for the given dispensing month)

Discount Rate 2 (0%) Appliances: Products listed in Part II or Part III of the Drug Tariff. This includes appliances listed in Part III e.g. dressings, elastic hosiery, incontinence appliances listed in Part III, and chemical reagents listed in Part II. The Appliances deduction rates applies whether the appliance is prescribed by brand name or generic name.

Discount Rate 3 (5.27%) Brands: Products not covered by Appliances and Generics definition. This includes products listed in Part I, Category C of the Drug Tariff, products prescribed by brand name, including branded generics, products NOT listed in Part I of the Drug Tariff i.e. non-Part I.

Those products which are listed on the “Zero Discount” list, are exempt from the revised discounting arrangements and will remain Zero Discount.

All non-zero discount products, granted a concessionary price in the prescription submission months of April 2024 onward will have Zero Discount applied.

NI Discount Deduction Transition Calculator

BSO have provided a transition calculator tool to illustrate the changes to discount deduction that a pharmacy could experience during the transition to new discount deduction arrangements taking place from January 2024 prescriptions (paid in February 2024) until April 2025 prescriptions. To access the calculator please click here.

Revised Discount Rate Categorisation

BSO are providing information on the classification of products under the revised discount rates for each month. To access this please click here.