Registering for access to ePACT2
View how to register for ePACT2.
Time period of the invoice
Invoices are issued monthly. They cover:
- reimbursement costs (provider practice prescribing and resources centrally retained) for the month specified on the invoice
- remuneration costs (dispensing fees and patient charges) for the previous month
These charges are made in arrears. For example, April remuneration costs will appear on May’s invoice.
Calculation of dispensing fees
The remuneration cost covers fees paid to the contractor for the services provided in dispensing the prescription.
These fees are then charged back to the prescriber organisation, either directly for item level fees, or shared using a specified sharing method for fees which cannot be directly linked to a prescriber or organisation.
The sharing methods used for each element in the Remuneration Report are specified in the remuneration report glossary (Excel: 168KB).
Remuneration cost are labelled as dispensing fees on the provider invoice.
What the reimbursement cost includes
Reimbursement covers the cost of the drugs dispensed on the prescription form.
The price reimbursed is based on the following calculation and will be shown in lines 1 to 5 (excluding line 2) of the Itemised Prescription Payment report (IPP) for identified prescribing.
- Net Ingredient Cost (Drug Tariff Part II, clause 8) of the drug
- Less the relevant discount percentage
- Plus Payment for Consumables (previously known container allowance Drug Tariff Part IV)
- Plus Out of Pocket Expenses (Drug Tariff Part II, Clause 12)
- Plus Payment for Containers (Drug Tariff Part IV)
More detailed information about which drugs have been prescribed and a breakdown of the costs, with the exception of payment for consumables, is available on ePACT2.
Provider organisations will also receive a percentage share of reimbursement costs which cannot be directly attributed back to a prescriber or organisation.
This is the proportional share per commissioner / provider of other costs based on prescribing which can not be directly attributed to practices.
These costs include:
- VAT
- nationally unidentified prescribing
- broken bulk
- schedule adjustments
- net cross-boundary costs
- out of pocket expenses and payments for containers for national unidentified prescribing
- Urgent Medicine Supply (with effect from December 2016)
The amount of resources retained centrally invoiced or charged to an organisation is a proportion based on actual cost for that month.
If the total actual cost for England in that month is £1000 and your organisation accounted for £100 of that, your organisation would be charged 10% of the centrally retained items value.
All organisations set up on NHSBSA systems to provide prescriptions are charged a proportion of the costs in centrally retained items whether they be SICBLs, hospital trusts, local authorities or independent sector healthcare providers (ISHPs).
No breakdown of this section is available.
You can view more information on how the IPP report is broken down.
