The German Association of Pharmacists (DAV) recently presented the expenditure of the health insurance companies before and after the corona boom in March 2020, according to which March was the peak month for expenditure and prescription dispensing, also with regard to the prescription of bulk packs (N3). In April everything returned to normal, which is also reflected in the expenditure on medicines in the first third of the year. In March of this year, for example, the expenditure of the health insurance funds rose by 25 percent to 3.8 billion euros. In the month of March 2019, expenditure amounted to only 3 billion euros; April 2019 was higher than the previous month with 3.2 billion euros, while April 2020 saw a slump. The health insurance funds spent 3.15 billion euros this month. The number of prescriptions redeemed in April this year also fell by 15.2 percent. However, large drug packages experienced a boom. The German states of Saarland and Baden-Württemberg reported the strongest increase in expenditure on drugs, with increases of 32 and 30 per cent respectively. Saxony recorded the smallest increase with 18 percent, followed by MeckPomm and Hamburg with 19 percent each. Vaccine expenditure for the first four months of 2020 amounted to 480 million euros, which is 18 per cent higher than in the same period last year. In March, pharmacies recorded a veritable run on vaccines with 43 percent. This figure for just one month was far above the expected increase in expenditure. In April, everything slowly returned to normal and vaccine expenditure fell by eight percent compared to the previous month. Savings from rebate contracts are not included. According to the DAV statistics, the pharmacies coped with the extraordinary situation surprisingly well despite some adversities such as increased infection protection measures, increased work capacities and delivery bottlenecks, etc. In January and February the corona effect was not yet noticeable; here the expected expenditure on medicines was on target with a growth rate of five percent. However, drug expenditure for the first four months increased by around one billion euros. While in 2019 they were still 12.5 billion euros, the DAV recorded a growth of eight percent to 13.5 billion euros in the first third of 2020.
