Healthcare in other EU countries — patients’ rights

KEY POINTS

• The EU country providing the treatment must ensure that:
  • all the information necessary is available for patients to make an informed choice including on treatment options, availability, quality and safety of the healthcare provided, prices, authorisation or registration status;
  • transparent complaint procedures exist;
  • professional liability insurance or similar guarantees are in place;
  • privacy of personal data is respected;
  • patients have access to a written or electronic record of the treatment they receive;
  • the scale of healthcare fees charged are the same as for domestic patients who are in a comparable medical situation, or the price charged is calculated according to objective, non-discriminatory criteria if there is no comparable price for domestic patients.
• The EU country where the patient is insured must ensure that:
  • the cost of the healthcare provided is reimbursed;
  • information on patient rights and entitlements is available;
  • patients have access to any necessary medical follow-up treatment;
  • patients have access to their medical records.
• National contact points exist to provide information and to consult with patient organisations and healthcare providers and insurers.
• Healthcare providers give all the necessary information to patients so they can make an informed decision, including:
  • treatment options;
  • availability;
  • quality and safety of the healthcare they provide;
  • prices;
  • authorisation or registration status.
• A patient's own country must reimburse the cost of the treatment according to the scales it applies domestically.
• A patient may require prior authorisation from their own country before going abroad for treatment. This may be necessary if the medical care involves at least one night in hospital and/or the use of highly specialised and cost-intensive medical equipment, or if it poses a particular risk for the patient or the population.
• A national authority may refuse to give prior authorisation if it considers that it can provide the patient with the necessary healthcare within a medically justifiable time limit.
• Requests for medical treatment in another EU country must be dealt with within a reasonable period of time.
• Prescriptions issued in one EU country are valid in another.
• National health authorities must cooperate with each other in implementing the legislation and in developing European reference networks between healthcare providers and centres of expertise.
• The cooperation extends to tackling rare diseases, developing eHealth and assessing new health technology.
• The legislation does not cover long-term care or the allocation of and access to organs or vaccinations.
• The directive does not affect how EU countries organise and finance their national health systems for their own citizens.
• The European Commission produces a report every 3 years on the way the system is working and how the directive operates. The first report was adopted in September 2015 and a subsequent one was adopted in September 2018.

The Commission has adopted a number of implementing and delegated acts related to Directive 2011/24/EU. These include:

• Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU on the recognition of medical prescriptions issued in another EU country;
• Implementing Decision 2013/329/EU on the establishment, management and the transparent functioning of the network of national authorities or bodies responsible for health technology assessment;
• Delegated Decision 2014/286/EU on criteria and conditions that European reference networks and healthcare providers wishing to join a European reference network must fulfil;
• Implementing Decision 2014/287/EU on criteria for establishing and evaluating European reference networks and their members and for facilitating the exchange of information and expertise on establishing and evaluating such networks;
• Implementing Decision 2019/1765 on the establishment, management and the functioning of the network of national authorities responsible for e-health, which was subsequently amended by Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1023, on the cross-border exchange of data between national contact-tracing and contact-warning mobile applications with regard to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/1023 adds two new annexes to Implementing Decision 2019/1765, which respectively deal with the responsibilities of:
  • the participating EU countries as joint controllers for the federation gateway for cross-border processing between national contact-tracing and contact-warning mobile applications; and
  • the Commission as data processor for the federation gateway for cross-border processing between national contact-tracing and contact-warning mobile applications.