The NPA has exclusive rights to provide independent pharmacies in England with a new tool for prescription item analysis. This is an overview of the benefits

Identify payment shortfalls and discrepancies:

• Compare reimbursement with FP34 Schedule of Payment so discrepancies are highlighted and can be rectified
• View line-by-line pricing for each prescription submitted
• Establish if prescriptions were endorsed correctly
• Identify pharmacy processes to review, for example, a large number of prescription switches may indicate improvements to exemption checking processes need be implemented.

Improve pharmacy stock management and ordering process:

• Establish fast-moving lines to help negotiate better rates from wholesalers for bulk-buying and consolidate and centralise your ordering processes (for contractors with multiple branches)
• Help maintain appropriate levels of stock and reduce wastage.

Identify and analyse items dispensed by Drug Tariff category:

• Establish if dispensing a large volume of Category M items in a particular month is responsible for fluctuations in payment
• Highlight items you are dispensing at a loss, for example, Part IXA and IXR appliances for which you cannot claim out-of-pocket expenses, or items not exempt from discount deduction.

Tailor clinical pharmacy services locally

• Establish the health demographic of local patient population and customise stock to cater for them
• Analyse your pharmacy performance against competitors
• Benchmark performance against competitors for key performance indicators including scripts and EPS nominations
• View your market share of items prescribed from the top three GP practices from which you receive most of your prescriptions.

CheckRx is available for NPA members at the rate of £10 per month for the contractual year (or £12 a month for non NPA members). For more information or to register, visit www.npa.co.uk/checkrx.