Update on PCSEs upfront payments reconciliation process

Important information for all GOS contractors in England that have received a PCSE request to repay upfront GOS payments for 2021 has been issued by the optical bodies.

Last year, the rollout of new paper GOS forms led to a significant number of rejections due to challenges with implementation that placed a significant financial burden on practices. As a result, NHS England agreed to provide upfront average payments until most implementation issues were resolved.

PCSE, on behalf of NHS England, is now in the process of reclaiming the upfront payments as most practices have successfully submitted the rejected paper claims. Practices should only be asked to repay an amount equal to the advance payment. The reclaim will be made via a deduction from monthly GOS payments in three equal amounts across January, February, and March.

Reconciliation and reclaiming overpayments

PCSE has now confirmed it has written to contractors with the goal of reconciling payments and reclaiming any overpaid sums.

Unfortunately, the initial email correspondence sent on the 20 December 2021 contained corrupted data; this was rectified in a subsequent email on the 21 December 2021. We have been assured that this should have solved most issues. However, we are aware that some practices are still concerned that there are errors in the data.

As a result, if after carefully reconciling the amount being reclaimed against the amount of advance that was provided, a contractor feels the sum being reclaimed is incorrect or would like to better understand how PCSE derived the sum, they should contact PCSE via [email protected]

If there is a significant discrepancy, difficulties with the payment schedule or PCSE fails to resolve the issue in a timely manner, contractors should contact their representative body which will escalate the concern to NHS England:

• AOP members email [email protected]
• ABDO members email [email protected]
• FODO members email [email protected] or phone 020 7298 5151

Reducing rejection rates for paper GOS submissions

Submitting paper GOS forms correctly will help reduce the rate of rejected claims and therefore delayed payments and the impacts this has on practices. ABDO, AOP and FODO are working with NHS England to help better understand the root cause of ongoing high paper GOS rejection rates, with a view to publishing a guidance note to help contractors and PCSE minimise payment delays. If you are experiencing a high paper rejection rate, please contact your membership body to share your experience.

Ends

For more information, please contact Serena Box, PR and Media Manager, at the Association of Optometrists, [email protected] or telephone 020 7549 2040.

Association of Optometrists

The Association of Optometrists (AOP) is the leading representative membership organisation for optometrists in the UK. We support over 82% of practising optometrists, to fulfil their professional roles to protect the nation’s eye health. For more information, visit www.aop.org.uk