Greek law (3816/2010) sets a list for serious diseases products (89 in total) which can be dispensed either through public hospitals or retail pharmacies for non hospitalized patients.  Each distribution channel incurs different costs for the NHS (public hospitals/SSFs). OBJECTIVES: Estimate potential savings for GR NHS (Social Security Funds & Hospitals) through dispensing products of serious diseases through hospital pharmacies instead of retail pharmacies. METHODS: Data derived from drug reimbursement database of OGA (Agriculture SSF) covering 20% of the GR population.  The data represent actual reimbursement amounts to private pharmacies, from January to April 2011, extrapolated for the whole 2011. The price calculations were based on the following formulas: 1) Public hospitals buy at hospital price (HP) +VAT from pharmaceutical companies; 2) Public hospitals charge wholesaler price +3% premium to SSFs; and 3) Retail pharmacies charge SSFs retail price (calculated as hospital price +2,5%wholesaler margin +18% pharmacy margin +VAT). RESULTS: Based on the mean of 5950 prescriptions per month the average value paid by OGA to the retail pharmacies was €1042 per prescription. By changing dispensing channel, via hospital, the mean cost per prescription for OGA was estimated at €930.93. Since both SSFs & hospitals are part of NHS, the actual cost of NHS/prescription is the hospital cost estimated at €818.72 and the estimated hospital gain per prescription is €112.21.  The actual gain for NHS per prescription is €223.28.  The extrapolated gain for OGA for 2011 is estimated at €7,930.398 while for NHS is €15,942.192. CONCLUSIONS: Distribution of products for serious diseases via hospital pharmacies, leads to considerable savings for NHS and SSFs while ensuring considerable gains for hospitals, under specific conditions (hospital personnel, budget, immediate payment by SSF). The expansion of the list is of absolute priority for reducing the NHS spending. More savings can be achieved by dispensing L3816 products through the newly formed unified health care fund (EOPYY) covering 90% of total population.