The Ministry of Health has issued an Order updating the reference price system for medicines in the National Health System and which comes into force in pharmacies as of January 1, 2022.
This review affects no less than 17,150 drugs in different presentations, of which 13,856 are dispensed in the pharmacy and the remainder in the hospital; In addition, it creates 714 new reference sets (groups of the same active ingredient with the same route of administration under a reference price), 460 of them available in pharmacies.
On the contrary, 689 reference sets have been eliminated , 452 of them available in pharmacies and 237 exclusively for hospital use.
Savings-oriented review
The general trend for this review is downward . In fact, Health estimates a total saving of about 243.13 million euros (169.41 in hospitals and 64.72 in pharmacies) of which 7.42 million should have an impact on the citizen, who will see their contribution reduced in dispensing .
Despite this, there are some medications that go up in price , such as paracetamol Kern in syrup. In addition, the drugs most purchased in Spanish pharmacies (which include Paracetamol in tablets, Lexatin, Orfidal, Nolotil and Ventolin) remain stable.
On the other hand, users of other fairly common medications such as insulins, smoking cessation medications, and certain coagulants (such as Clexane) in their lower concentrations will notice the decrease .
Pharmacies will begin to dispense drugs at this new price from January 1 , and billing of official prescriptions to the National Health System, including those corresponding to the Mutual Societies of civil servants, will be settled with these new prices. date.
