“Chaos in pharmacies and uncertainty among patients”

16.08.2011 11:29

According to the Rhineland-Palatinate Pharmacists' Association, the AOK discount agreements that have been in effect since June have led to supply chaos in pharmacies. A very large proportion of discount medicines are not available or are only available to a limited extent. Patients would be completely unsettled by necessary product changes. For the German Society for Citizen-Oriented Care Management eV (DGbV), this is just a sad example of how superficial savings efforts on the part of the health insurance companies can indirectly lead to a risk to therapy safety and adherence to therapy (compliance).

The DGbV has already warned about this several times. The possible consequences are avoidable hospital stays, emergency admissions, additional doctor and pharmacy visits, premature deaths and reduced quality of life.

Experts estimate the resulting direct and indirect costs to be between 10 and 15 billion euros per year. The health insurance savings of 1.3 billion euros published by the Federal Ministry of Health in 2010 are not in any reasonable proportion to this.

Patient-oriented, safe and efficient care management that helps reduce avoidable health damage and costs should therefore be a top priority in health policy, according to the chairman of the DGbV Dr. John N Weatherly. On the other hand, the meaning of the discount agreements and their great effort must be questioned given the serious disadvantages.