The National Health Fund recovered PLN 2.5 million after pharmacy inspections. One pharmacy must repay nearly a quarter of a million.
- The National Health Fund has published data on inspections carried out in the second quarter of 2025
- Pharmacies must repay nearly PLN 2.5 million to the National Health Fund. The record holder is a pharmacy in Pomerania, which must return nearly PLN 230,000.
- The Fund also ordered the reimbursement of PLN 140,000 to a pharmacist who issued reimbursed prescriptions pro familiae and pro auctore.
The National Health Fund has published a report on inspections carried out in the second quarter of 2025, including in pharmacies.
The National Health Fund's Regional Audit Departments conducted a total of 41 inspections of pharmacies. They examined 11,352 filled prescriptions. Errors were found in 5,402 of them. This represents nearly half (48%) of all prescriptions checked.
The number of questioned prescriptions resulting in undue reimbursement amounted to 5,179, which represents 46% of prescriptions subject to inspection.
On average, 277 prescriptions were checked per inspection.
The financial consequences of completed pharmacy inspections amounted to nearly PLN 2.5 million (PLN 2,482,658) in total, and PLN 60,500 per inspection.
The record holder was a pharmacy inspected by the Gdańsk branch. The inspection involved verifying the performance of a contract for dispensing a subsidized drug, a food for particular nutritional uses, and a prescription medical device, including the dispensing of prescriptions for prescription drugs with high reimbursement costs.
The inspection was carried out on the basis of documents provided by the pharmacy - records of prescription drugs, reporting data, purchase invoices and 48 prescriptions selected for inspection.
Irregularities were found in 87.5% of the prescriptions checked, including the dispensing of prescription drugs:
- using a pharmaceutical raw material after its expiry date,
- for which there was no proof of purchase for the pharmaceutical raw material,
- for which there was no annotation about the change of substrate in DRR.
"In the case of 42 prescriptions, the electronic messages contained incorrect data, which should not have been the subject of reporting to the Fund and the basis for reimbursement due to their defective execution," the National Health Fund indicates.
As a result of the irregularities found, the Fund imposed sanctions in the amount of nearly PLN 230,000 (PLN 229,431.69).
The second highest financial impact was recorded by TWK XII in Katowice as a result of an audit of the accuracy of prescriptions, which included, among other things, subsidized medicinal products containing highly potent substances, and the reporting of data on the turnover of subsidized drugs. A total of 460 prescriptions were audited.
"Irregularities were found in 100% of the inspected prescriptions, involving the dispensing of prescriptions by staff lacking the appropriate professional qualifications and authorizations. Due to the irregularities identified, the National Health Fund imposed sanctions on the inspected entity in the amount of PLN 107,928.23 ," the National Health Fund (NFZ) reports.
The next highest financial impact was recorded by TWK V in Łódź. The audit concerned:
- fulfilling reimbursed prescriptions for prescription drugs and providing data on the turnover of reimbursed prescription drugs resulting from the content of the filled prescriptions,
- compliance of data transferred to the National Health Fund’s Regional Office on staff dispensing prescriptions with the data appearing in the records of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians employed in the pharmacy.
The Katowice branch inspected 219 prescriptions for prescription drugs. Irregularities were found in the filling of prescriptions and in the reporting of data on the turnover of reimbursed drugs in every fifth prescription inspected (21.46%). The errors included:
- placing information in the DRR about the partial filling of the prescription, even though it was not possible to fill it further,
- making a prescription drug contrary to the composition prescribed by the doctor,
- preparation of the drug at a time that makes it impossible to prepare a drug form that meets the quality requirements specified in the Polish Pharmacopoeia,
- filling a prescription by a person who does not have the qualifications and authorization to do so.
In the case of 44 prescriptions, the electronic messages contained incorrect data that should not have been reported to the Fund or the basis for reimbursement due to their defective processing. Due to the identified irregularities, the National Health Fund imposed sanctions on the audited entity in the amount of PLN 84,527.89.
Within all completed inspections, the most frequently identified irregularities include:
- transmission of incorrect statistical data in the form of electronic messages or transmission of data despite faulty prescription fulfillment,
- filling of a prescription by a person who does not have the qualifications and authorization to fill it,
- incorrect valuation,
- dispensing a medicinal product, a food for particular nutritional uses or a medical device, including a prescription drug, in a quantity inconsistent with the quantity written in the prescription or the requirements specified in legal provisions.
The local branch in Bydgoszcz can, in turn, boast about the results of monitoring the implementation of rights and obligations related to the issuance of reimbursed prescriptions by pharmacists, in the area of the justification for the choice of the level of payment.
The prescription of reimbursed medications containing 69 active substances, including various combinations, was identified for inspection. The pharmacist issued 564 pro familiae and pro auctore prescriptions for 59 patients.
Irregularities were found in 100% of the sample. They included failure to submit medical records for inspection.
"Furthermore, the prescriptions were illegally marked with additional authorization markings "S" or "DZ". Due to the irregularities found, the National Health Fund imposed sanctions on the authorized person in the amount of PLN 143,203.43," we read in the NFZ report.
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