Pharmacies will not be able to sell a medicine paid for by the health insurance fund if the pack does not match the product claimed. The real-time check starts on 1 November 2026, the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union said.

Three weeks ago, the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) said checks at 21 pharmacies in 12 regions found that more than €1m had been wrongly taken from its budget. The new rule follows violations found in joint inspections with the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and the economic police unit of the National Police Directorate General, part of the Interior Ministry.

What happened before: Checks at 21 pharmacies find over €1m wrongly paid by health insurance fund

The National Health Information System (NZIS) will run the check. When a pharmacy processes a prescription, its software scans the 2D code on the pack automatically. It sends the GTIN code straight to NZIS, along with other details of the dispensing. The central system immediately compares it with the national number of the prescribed and claimed product.

If there is any difference, the system returns an error message and rejects the transaction by itself. The sale stops before the pharmacist can complete it and before the patient leaves the pharmacy.

The union says the NHIF will check whether the unique verification code on each pack handed out matches the medicine prescribed. The way pharmacies handle prescriptions is changing completely.

Until now, mismatches came to light only in later checks, months after the payments. The new check replaces that. The NHIF press office said the aim is to stop wrongful payments, and the module rules out claims for pricier products or ones never handed over.

The control module was built by Information Services JSC. It builds on the automatic reporting of filled prescriptions, introduced in early 2026. The company says this reporting, together with online checks when doctors write prescriptions, has already cut errors in dispensing NHIF medicines by more than 98%.