Patients with rare cancers will benefit from cross border healthcare directive

Posted by Bronwen Maher on September 15, 2010 at 03:48 PM

“Access to cross border healthcare will be considerably easier and more patient-friendly if a proposed new EU Cross Border Healthcare Directive is adopted,” Labour MEP Nessa Childers told a seminar in Brussels today.

Hosting the Second Forum Against Cancer in Europe (FACE) which was addressed by the EU Health Commissioner John Dalli, the Leinster Labour MEP said: “Patients with diseases such as rare cancers, and residents of Border Counties from Louth to Donegal will see considerable benefits from the proposed EU Cross Border Healthcare Directive.”

The Directive’s stated aims are to help patients exercise their rights to access cross-border care; provide EU citizens with assurances about safety and quality of cross border care and to help national health systems cooperate in a way that achieves better outcomes for patients.

Nessa Childers said: “Under normal circumstances patients prefer to be treated near to their homes. But sometimes the specialist expertise they need, particularly in the case of those with rare cancers is provided in another Member State and not in their own country of residence.

“If adopted the Directive will allow patients such as those with rare cancers and other rare diseases to have access to the best clinical trials and specialised treatments available in the EU. It is envisaged that this will happen in a much more straightforward and responsive way than is currently the case. Clear and precise information will be available from designated ‘national contact points’ where your rights as a patient will be clearly explained. Practical questions to do with the need to have ‘prior authorisation’ for certain procedures and treatments and the payment of costs would be addressed here also.”

“Healthcare is primarily the responsibility of the Member States and it is important to note that the proposed Directive does not create any new rights. Rather it aims to achieve legal certainty for patients who need to travel for the best available treatment and care, codifying a series of European Court of Justice judgements about the rights of EU citizens to access planned healthcare in another Member State and their right to reimbursement of costs from their national health authority.

“In terms of the Directive, the European Parliament needs to advance the rights of patients to access the best available care. But it also needs to make sure that individual governments are not permitted to use the legislation as an excuse not to develop capacity in their own States.

“The Directive must not be allowed become a rich persons’ charter, where only those who can pay up front and afford to wait for reimbursement can opt in. Clear protections must be built in to make equality of access to high quality healthcare a reality for all EU citizens irrespective of means or where they live.
“Clarity for patients about the authority that is overseeing quality and safety in cross-border cases and who is responsible for meeting the cost is fundamental also.

“We need to clarify rules about access to healthcare in other Member States and the basis on which it will be provided, including administrative procedures and guarantees of objective and timely handling of requests especially in the case of patients with rare cancers and other debilitating rare diseases.”

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