The German Pharmacists‘ Association (DAV) is worried because, since the insolvency of the Düsseldorf-based accounting company AvP, some pharmacies could be threatened by a wave of bankruptcies, especially in northeastern Germany. According to Axel Pudimat, the head of the association, 60 of the approximately 400 privately managed pharmacies located there are probably affected. 3,500 pharmacies nationwide had handled payment transactions with health insurance companies via AvP. According to estimates, these are now threatened with losses of 120,000 euros on average, and in individual cases, over one million euros, which the accounting center owes to the pharmacists. Some pharmacies could then be affected by closures because the owners are liable with their private assets, house and land. Especially in rural regions of the northeast, this is a debacle for patients living there, whose care is then no longer guaranteed. For these reasons, six health insurance companies (TK, Barmer, DAK-Gesundheit, KKH, HKK and HEK) have joined forces and now want to help pharmacies in need as quickly as possible. This is to be achieved by means of advance payments to the new pharmacy service providers for the month of September, but also by billing for services from the months of August and September, which would then be reimbursed until 31 December of this year without any reductions in invoice amounts. The Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office is now investigating the case of AvP’s insolvency on suspicion of fraudulent bankruptcy with drastic consequences for many pharmacists who cooperated with AvP.
Source: apotheke-adhoc.de