Due to the long waiting times for appointments with statutory health insurers, patients are increasingly forced to consult their own doctor. They must first bear the costs themselves and then submit the invoice to their health insurer, so that they are reimbursed at least part of the costs. From July 1, this process will be simplified.
Doctors are then legally obliged to submit the invoice for reimbursement online for patients if they wish.
More service, faster processing
The Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) sees this as a “good story on the way to better service quality,” says Managing Director Bernhard Wurzer. For patients, electronic submission ensures faster processing, so that they subsequently receive 80 percent of the relevant health insurance rate back. The goal is to reduce the value to two weeks. Currently there are three to four, sometimes considerably more.
Dentists of your choice are not covered by the scheme. Further restriction: There will be a trivial cap on annual revenue, below which physicians who work only sporadically will not have to worry about the billing system and integration into their ordination software.
How high the limit will be has not yet been determined, but is still subject to negotiation with the medical association. If this were set at 15,000 euros, analogous to the cash register obligation, more than 90 percent of all cases would be covered.
ELGA also for elective doctors
The new system does not require the use of the e-card with the doctor of your choice. But here too, as decided last year, improvements will be made: from January 1, 2025, these will be linked to the e-card, and from then on the use of the electronic patient file (ELGA) will also be specified for elective courses. doctors.
Source: Krone
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