Vol. 503 No. 4
137 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health and Children the measures, if any, he proposes to reduce the level of payments of doubtful claims to pharmacies for dispensing drugs to medical card holders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10525/99]
Most of the GMS pharmacy claims which are categorised as doubtful by the Comptroller and Auditor General arise because the patient numbers quoted are either illegible or are not currently eligible – many will have been issued with the new numbers but the old numbers are still used. The replacement of paper medical cards by laminated plastic cards in the early months of 1998 which are used in conjunction with imprinters supplied to each doctor and dentist should bring about a significant improvement in both accuracy and legibility of patient data on forms issued by doctors and dentists. Further improvements will be realised when more of the claims are being submitted electronically. There is currently a major pilot project in place under which almost 100,000 claims are currently being transmitted electronically each month.
