European Union directive gets the nod of Lords of medical travel

The EU directive on Cross Border Healthcare is making its way through the maze of the British Government. Slow progress, but it is progress towards a European market in healthcare.

The EU Committee of the House of Lords have welcomed the proposal for a directive of the European Commission on the rights of patients to healthcare. The Commission demanded improvements and warned that due to the impact of the provisions of Directive unpredictable, it must be carefully monitored in the implementation.

The Commission agreed with the Commission that, as the right of EU citizens to travel to another Member State to receive healthcare was confirmed by the European Court of Justice over the last ten years, it is essential to put in place a legal framework to replace the current ad hoc arrangements.

The Committee also considers whether patients seeking healthcare in other European, Member States shall pay the costs of treatment and then claim a refund later. They have concerns that this would prevent those without adequate financial means to take advantage of their right to health care. The Commission's report recommends that a health service provider of the patient must pay the fees directly to the supplier in another Member State and suggests that this could be related to the process of securing authorisation before the trip, which it considers necessary to protect the financial resources of health systems and to allow patients to make informed decisions about your treatment.

The report also urges Member States to ensure that patients are aware of their rights under the directive and are informed about the quality of care they can expect, any potential barriers of language and how to complain that should be necessary. Member States should provide information about health care abroad for its own citizens and shall prepare a description of your own health care system to guide the other Member States. Recognizing that it can fall for doctors, such as doctors and dentists, really provide the information to patients, the Committee argues that the directive should avoid imposing an administrative burden for health professionals.

The Commission has also called for greater clarity on systems repair when patients are unhappy with, or harmed by healthcare provided in another Member State.
The Committee welcomes the provision of the directive that a Member State would be able to refuse to accept a patient from another Member State if, for example, this would increase the waiting time for treatment. However, they recommend that this part of the directive would benefit from some reinforcement.

Finally, the Committee noted that the impact of the directive will only be clear after it was implemented and then recommend that it be reviewed within three years instead of five, as proposed by the Commission.