Registrations for the Personal Doctor start tomorrow – Who it concerns

They start tomorrow, July 1st registrations of citizens in Personal Doctorwhich is the first point of contact of the citizen with the public health system and provides comprehensive and continuous care to the individual in order to prevent and treat the disease and promote health.

According to the Government Gazette published a few days ago, one of the main changes is the way patients are referred to specialist doctors and hospitals, while two ways of referral to EOPYY specialists are defined, Health Centers and hospitals.

Incentives for registration

Those who register will have priority from 01-01-2023, when planning their visits to the regular outpatient clinics in public secondary and tertiary health care units.

Those who are not registered with a personal doctor, from 01-10-2022 will have an additional participation in the pharmaceutical expense, at a rate of 10% in addition to the percentage of participation determined in each case.

From 01-10-2022 additional participation in laboratory and diagnostic tests and operations, in hospitalizations in private clinics and in other benefits, at a rate of 10% in addition to the determined percentage of their participation.

From 01-01-2023 the above provisions are increased by 10%, in addition to the above additional participation on the determined percentage of participation in the pharmaceutical expenditure and in the laboratory and diagnostic examinations and operations, in the hospitalizations in private clinics and in the other benefits , as described in the EKPY of EOPY. of the citizen, amounting to 20% of the percentage of participation determined on a case-by-case basis.

Who cares

The population that has completed the 16th year of age, according to the date of birth and the adult population is registered with free choice in the personal doctor, specialty of general / family medicine or internal pathology, which is:

• doctor of the branch of doctors of the National Health System, who serves and provides his services in the Health Centers, in the Local Health Units (To.M.Y.) and in other public units of PFY, with a registered population,
• a doctor who provides his services in the context of the operation of the Local Health Teams of article 106 of law 4461/2017 (A ’38), with a registered population,
• doctor contracted with the National Organization for the Provision of Health Services (EOPYY), with a registered population.

It is noted that personal physicians are also defined as doctors without specialization, who have a certificate of general medicine.

By decision of the Minister of Health, doctors of other specialties may be appointed as personal physicians, when there are not enough doctors in the specialties of general / family medicine or internal pathology and after attending an education / training program.

The services of personal physicians are provided within the public units of P.F.Y. of the Local Services Networks of the P.F.Y., of the headquarters of the Local Health Groups, of the private clinics and at home.

Population census procedure at the personal physician

Registration with a personal doctor is done electronically. In case the citizen has reached the 16th year of age, the registration is done by whoever exercises parental care, while if the citizen is under judicial support, all the necessary actions are carried out by his / her legal assistant. The electronic registration process can be carried out either by the citizen through the citizen registration platform, or by the administrative and other staff of the public health care providers of the PHC, the personal physicians, or by other bodies, which can be identified later, in the personal presence of the citizen.

All citizens’ applications are accepted, until the legal limit of 2,000 registered citizens per doctor is met. In the case of the private doctors contracted with EOPYY, the applications of the citizens for registration are accepted according to the defined limit that each doctor has chosen during his contract.

Citizens who are already registered with a family doctor are considered to be registered with a personal doctor for all relevant rights and obligations and are not required to take further action.

The personal physician refers the recipient of health services to the specialty doctors of the Health Centers, the public structures of secondary and tertiary health care and the health service providers contracted with EOPYY. The specialist doctors also have the right to refer for the issues of their specialty.

Two categories of referrals are defined:

• the simple referral, valid for thirty (30) calendar days for scheduling a visit to a specialist,
• the referral of a chronic illness, starting on the date of issue and valid for twelve (12) months, for all the required visits to a specialist.

The process of referral to the doctors of specialties of the Health Centers, to the public structures of secondary and tertiary health care and to the health service providers contracted with EOPYY is done electronically as follows:

The doctor will be able to refer the citizen, through the electronic referral platform of IDIKA, to the doctors of specialties of the Health Centers, to the public structures of secondary and tertiary health care and to the health service providers contracted with EOPYY. The operational interconnection of systems and procedures between primary, secondary and tertiary health care will be operational after the entry into force of this Decision.

Emergency service does not require a referral. Emergencies are handled in public health structures according to the current patient screening process and the degree of organization of these structures.

For each referral, a visit should be made by the specialist doctor where the results of the referral will be registered, which will be parametrically determined and will inform a corresponding section in the Individual Electronic Health File of the citizen.

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