Directive 2011/24/EU codifies patients’ rights to reimbursement for healthcare received in another EU Member State (MS) and obliges MS to provide information about access to such care through their National Contact Points. In order to assess the impact of the Directive, questionnaires have been sent to all MS in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 to collect information on patient mobility in the preceding year. The data collected each year address treatment provided with Prior Authorisation (PA) from the MS of affiliation (where the patient is insured); as well as treatment where such Prior Authorisation is not required.
This report provides an overview of the data on patient mobility in 2017, collected from February to November 2018. Returns were received from twenty-eight of the thirty countries contacted (being the EU 28 plus Norway and Iceland), no response was received from Cyprus or Iceland. It should be noted however that several Member States had difficulties in reporting the full mobility data, accordingly the baseline numbers referred in different sections vary, and percentages should be interpreted with caution.
