Klekovski: Electronic prescriptions will put an end to drug abuse and false billing

The Health Insurance Fund expects that the introduction of electronic prescriptions for acute illnesses will curb abuses in the prescribing and dispensing of medicines financed by the state.

The director of the Health Insurance Fund, Sasho Klekovski, said that they are awaiting the Ministry of Health’s approval of the protocols that will link the Fund’s system with that of the Ministry, which will pave the way for the issuing of electronic prescriptions. According to him, this mechanism is already in place for prescriptions issued for chronic illnesses.

Speaking about the ways prescription medicines are abused to the detriment of the fund, he said there are two most common forms of abuse, especially when patients ask for them, God forbid.

According to Klekovski, one form of abuse is linked to obtaining medicines “just to have them.” He stressed that in many households the medicine drawer is opened only once a year, and expired medications are thrown away at least once a year.

He also explained that the other category of abuse is related to the double billing of medicines.

“They are charged for false prescriptions, and these are billed both to the Fund and to the patient. The purpose of these checks is to avoid double billing, where a medicine is charged to the patient but not to the Fund, and vice versa,” Klekovski said.