Following the public consultation, the Commission started drafting a directive on "safe, high-quality and efficient cross-border healthcare", which has now reached the stage of inter-service consultation.
The directive concerns chiefly EU citizens "travelling to another member state with the purpose of receiving health care there." The key principles of the directive are:
- Healthcare provision: Mobile patients should at least receive health care similar to what they would have been entitled to in their home country. Member states are in charge of ensuring the quality and safety standards thereof.
- Costs: Patients' home countries should carry the cost for health care abroad up to at least the price they would have been charged had the patient been treated at home.
- Authorisation: Patients will still need to obtain authorisation prior to looking for medical treatment abroad, but they cannot be denied treatment if it is deemed "appropriate".
- Information: Member states should provide all the relevant information "to enable informed choices by patients" concerning availability, prices and outcomes of the health care they provide. This concerns in particular the question of liability and procedures to be followed in the event of medical malpractice.
- Co-operation: Member states should work together, using, among other things, telemedicine services, in order to assure cross-border exchange of patient data, while respecting privacy rights.
As a result of the draft directive, member states would have to establish rules concerning the EU-wide definition of treatment methods, including hospitalisation, and on the cross-border recognition of prescriptions.
