Draft law takes aim at pricey medical checks
A new Health Ministry bill heading to Parliament next month seeks to prevent citizens from consulting specialists or getting expensive tests at public hospitals on the state’s tab without a referral from their personal doctor.
The so-called personal doctor is one of the key changes in the new “gatekeeper” system, whereby people insured with the National Organization of Healthcare Services (EOPYY) will have a local pathologist or general practitioner as their go-to doctor for any health complaint. Citizens who do not have a referral from the attending doctor will have to pay their own way.
Commenting on the legislation on Monday, Health Minister Thanos Plevris said that the new system will be different from a similar one introduced in 2014 with little success in that doctors who sign up for the scheme will be reimbursed by EOPYY for each patient registered with them and not consultations.
