Through Executive Decree No. 451, issued on June 9, 2022, the Regulations to the Public Procurement Law were amended. The amendment covers the provisions applicable to the acquisition of medicines and strategic health goods for outpatient care (“Products“) by the Public Health Network (“PHN“) to private pharmacies qualified by the national health authority (“Pharmacies“).
The main aspects of this amendment are:
- The prices of the Products, which the PHN shall pay to the Pharmacies, shall be those provided in the electronic catalog. In addition, the PHN shall pay each Pharmacy an additional amount for “operating costs” to be analyzed and fixed by the National Health Authority (“NHA“).
- If one of the Products is not in the electronic catalog, the price will be the one fixed within the referential budget for the Corporate Reverse Auction of the respective Product (“CRA“). Said price shall be applied until 90 days after the signing of the Framework Agreement resulting from the CRA, after which the provisions mentioned in point 1 shall apply.
- Until the NHA fixes the “operating costs“, the PHN shall pay each Pharmacy 5% of the total value of the Products it has dispensed under the adhesion contracts entered into or to be entered into with PHN.
- The “operating costs” fixed by the NHA shall only apply to the adhesion contracts entered into from such fixation. The previous contracts shall be subject to the provisions mentioned in point 3 until their expiration, and if they are renewed, the amount fixed by the NHA shall apply to such renewal.
Executive Decree No. 451 entered into force on June 14, 2022.
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