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Pharmacy Act, 1974 (Act No. 53 of 1974)

Board Notices

Annexure A : Guidelines for Levying a Fee or Fees

 

Board Notice 106 of 2004

 

 

General guidelines governing the determination of a fee or fees

 

1) Nature of services provided

A pharmacist may, in charging a fee for professional services rendered by him/her take into account one or more of the following factors -

a) the nature of the professional service rendered;
b) the time of day and circumstances under which the service is rendered.

 

2) Consultations

 

2.1 A consultation refers to a situation where a pharmacist personally takes down a patient's history, performs an appropriate health examination, including observations, or reviews the patient's medicine-related needs without a physical examination, and plans appropriate interventions/treatment.
2.2 A prolonged consultation refers to a consultation with a duration of longer than 30 minutes due to an emergency situation or the necessity for the pharmacist's prolonged attention to the patient or his/her medicine-related needs.
2.3 A consultation may not be charged for where the sole purpose of the visit is to perform a procedure and no other interaction between the pharmacist and the patient takes place.

 

3) Travelling and after-hour fees

Where a pharmacist is called out from his/her pharmacy, or the pharmacy in which he/she practises, or residence, a fee including the travelling time and costs, as well as time spent, may be charged.

 

4) Collaboration with other health care professionals

Services may be provided in collaboration with a registered nurse or other registered health care professional as agreed to by the Council and the other statutory health council in question.

 

A pharmacist's guide to fees

 

5) Procedures

 

5.1 Services for which a fee or fees may be levied, may be divided (separated) into procedures as indicated in the Schedule and a fee be charged for the performance of a particular procedure(s). If a procedure is performed at the time of the first counselling, the fee for the counselling plus the cost of the materials used may be recovered as separate charges.
5.2 The fee per procedure should be based on a procedure code.
5.3 The fee for after-hours and/or call-out may be separate codes.
5.4 The fees will be reviewed on an annual basis by a competent authority.
5.5 To promote transparency, all fees levied must be indicated separately.

 

6) Fee for procedures

 

6.1 The pharmacist’s fee should be based on an hourly tariff.
6.2 Specific units should be allocated to each procedure. Units are determined as follows:

One unit = 1 minute = R6

6.3 The units as contained in the Schedule are the maximum units that may be allocated per procedure.

 

7) Pharmacy support personnel

 

The fee or fees may be levied by a pharmacist whether the service concerned is provided in full or with the assistance of a pharmacist’s assistant in a pharmacy, subject thereto that a pharmacist’s assistant may only be utilised to provide a service or perform an act falling within the scope of practice of the category of pharmacist’s assistant so utilised.

 

8) Comparable services

 

Services for which a fee or fees may be levied as listed in the Schedule may be added to the Schedule from time to time. The fee that may be charged for such a service may be based on a fee for a comparable service or procedure appearing in the Schedule.

 

9) Facility fee

 

A fee may be levied by a pharmacist for the provision and/or utilisation of the facilities for the processing of medical aid claims (as per procedure code 0017).

 

10) Dispensing fee

 

Procedure Codes 0001, 0002, 0003 will be deemed to be addressed by the pricing of prescriptions in accordance with the regulations relating to a transparent pricing system (GNR 553 of 30 April 2004).

 

11) VAT

 

These fees are exclusive of VAT.

 

 

The Schedule /Table which follows, may be found in Government Gazette No. 26904 dated 15 October 2004.