someone explain pharmacy to me like I have not read a paper in years
someone explain pharmacy to me like I have not read a paper in years. If this has been answered properly somewhere, link me and I will delete.
On cross-border prescriptions, since the assumption behind half these threads is wrong.
There are EU rules on the recognition of prescriptions issued in another member state, and they are conditional: the prescription has to meet requirements about its form and content, certain categories are excluded, and pharmacies retain discretion in practice.
The result is that "my prescription will be accepted anywhere in the EU" is not a safe assumption, and members here have discovered it at a counter in another country. If it matters for a trip, check before you travel with the pharmacy and with somebody qualified where you are. Nothing on this board is advice about that, and the rules are national in their application whatever the framework says.
Asked in my own language at a local pharmacy and got a clearer answer in five minutes than a fortnight of forum reading.
The structure that makes this board make sense, once.
Marketing authorisation for these products is granted centrally, which is why the same product exists across the union. Everything after that — whether it is reimbursed, on what criteria, at what price, in what pack size, dispensed under what margin rules — is decided nationally.
So "is it covered" has twenty-seven answers, "what does it cost" has twenty-seven answers plus within-country variation, and only "is it authorised" has one. Almost every argument on this board is two people answering different questions from different countries, both correctly.
Please do not ask me what dose you should be on. I genuinely do not know and neither does anyone else here.
best — the order this archive was captured in
How to compare prices across borders without misleading yourself.
Normalise the pack size first. Presentations differ between member states and a headline figure for one pack is not comparable to another. Then separate reimbursed from private prices, which are set by entirely different mechanisms. Then note the dispensing fee structure, which is nationally regulated.
When members here have done all three, the interesting finding has consistently been that variation between pharmacies within a country is often as large as the variation between countries — which makes the cross-border shopping most of these threads are really about far less attractive than it looks.
cross-border prescription rules exist and they are narrower than people think
Pointing this one at a pharmacist locally. Eligibility questions have national answers we cannot give.
reimbursement is national, not European, and that is the whole board
reimbursement is national, not European, and that is the whole board
sten_bhattacharya is right about cross-border recognition being narrower than the summaries suggest.
This. The published reimbursement criteria are the document to read, and most member states do publish them.
pack sizes differ, so per-month comparisons need care
ask for the Beipackzettel or the local equivalent, it answers most questions
- 1Pointing this one at a pharmacist locally. Eligibility questions have…6 comments in this branch · started by u/nordic_pricing