Filenews 21 June 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
In three main ways, beneficiaries of the General Health System will be able, from October, to receive services from medical centers abroad through the program for sending patients abroad or through the procedures of cross-border care of the European Union, which also pass under the competence of the Health Insurance Organization and are included in the GHS.
The HIO is working intensively in order to complete all the necessary preparations and for the Organization to be able to integrate these services into the System, while its officers are under continuous training by the Department of Subsidized Patients of the Ministry of Health, which will also remain in operation after the assumption of responsibilities by the Organization. since issues concerning non-beneficiaries of the GHS, food and accommodation allowances, patient tickets and accompanying expenses, are the responsibility of the state and not of the health system.
The design of the HIO, the senior officer Dr. Monika Kyriakou, "is ready and was approved by the board of directors last week".
"We have made our preparations in terms of the procedures that will be followed and certainly if in the course of time it is decided that some things need to change because they will cause us problems, we will proceed with the necessary adjustments".
The planning, the procedures, the exceptions and everything we need to know
The incidents will be divided into three different categories:
> E-mails are non-urgent and non-life-threatening.
> Emergencies for which the procedures will be completed within seven days.
> Life-threatening cases for which procedures will be completed within a few hours.
For the last category, i.e. for life-threatening incidents, a 24-hour response mechanism will operate at the HIO, with a waiting duty for officers and a supervisor, while for patients who will need to be transported abroad by plane/ambulance, the Organization will cooperate with the air carriers that the Ministry of Health cooperates to date.
According to the plan, the HIO, following the practice of the Ministry of Health, has drawn up a preliminary list of hospitals with which it will cooperate. These hospitals are mainly located in: Germany, France, Greece, Britain and Israel.
The request for sending a patient abroad will be submitted electronically, through the GHS IT system, by the doctor and the system, after marking by the doctor, will classify it in the appropriate category.
In the case of a life-threatening incident, the procedure will not be carried out from the beginning through the IT system but by telephone communication at any time of the 24-hour period.
Each incident will be evaluated on the basis of specific criteria. If the service for which the request is submitted is offered within the framework of the GHS in Cyprus, the request will be rejected (a different procedure will be followed which will be explained below) while experimental or unapproved treatments or going abroad for the administration of medicines alone will not be covered (it is considered more advantageous to secure the medicine and administer it in Cyprus).
Out of planning, at this stage, mainly due to the lack of legislation, the following remain: Prosthetic limbs, specialized examinations and eye prostheses (to be covered by the Ministry of Health).
When the request meets the criteria, the HIO will address the competent committee of experts, which will examine it and when the recommendation is positive, the Organization, after proceeding with its own evaluation, will proceed with the necessary procedures.
It will be addressed to centers that offer the services that the patient needs and depending on the response of which he will receive, the choice of the hospital to which the referral will be made. In the event that the doctor and the patient agree on the choice of hospital, then the HIO will proceed to arrange the hospitalization, etc.
If the doctor in his initial request had recommended a hospital that is not included in the list of the HIO or is not included in the national health system of the country (if it is an EU country) in which he is based, the plan provides for a different procedure:
– If it is included in the national health system of the country but is not included in the list of the HIO, the Organization will proceed to the reimbursement of hospitalization upon its completion, but will not make any arrangements for receiving the service. This will be undertaken by the beneficiary/treating doctor.
– If the hospital of the doctor's and patient's choice is not included in the list of the HIO and does not participate in the health system of the country in which it is based, the Organization, after the necessary investigation with other hospitals capable of handling the incident, will pay the amount it would have paid to a hospital with which it cooperates (or operates within a national health system) and the patient will pay the difference in the price. In this case, too, the attending physician and the beneficiary will be responsible for the rest of the arrangements, such as scheduling appointments, etc.
In the event that the hospital is within a national health system, then the compensation will be paid based on European procedures. In the event that the hospital is outside the national health system, the patient will present all the evidence afterwards and the HIO will pay the amount due to him.
From this whole process, three categories of patients/cases are excluded which will be covered by the Organization, which will also make the necessary arrangements despite the fact that the selected hospitals are excluded from its list:
– Patients who have been referred to centers abroad in the past have undergone surgery and it is imperative that they visit this center frequently for follow-up.
– Patients who choose a hospital that is not included in the HIO list but the hospitals on the list do not respond to the request of the Organization due to the inability to handle the incident.
– Patients with rare diseases for whom specialized services are offered by specific medical centers (reference centers), which are not included in the list of the HIO.
Patients who choose a medical center within the EU will be compensated.
With the amendment of the GHS law that is expected to be made by the Parliament, after it has been submitted by the Ministry of Health, the HIO will also compensate patients who choose to be served by a medical center within the EU (which is integrated into the national health system of the country in which it is based) despite the fact that the service they need is offered in Cyprus within the System.
In simple words, if for a routine operation the beneficiary of the GHS chooses, instead of being served by one of the hospitals in Cyprus (within the GHS) to be served by another hospital in Greece, he can do so and upon his return to Cyprus he will be able to submit a request to the Ministry of Health for compensation. This will be evaluated and then forwarded to the Agency, which, after the necessary evaluation, will pay the beneficiary an amount equal to what he would have paid if the hospitalization had taken place in Cyprus.
