In a statement to Philenews, Athos Tsinontides, the Deputy Director-General of the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO), stressed the importance of collaboration to ensure the success of the new referral system set to be implemented from tomorrow.
“We will not achieve our goal unless we all collaborate. Doctors, patients, and the Health Insurance Organisation must work together,” Tsinontides highlighted, urging the public to remain patient during the initial phase of the new system, which aims to streamline referrals to specialist doctors.
The upcoming changes introduce a two-tier referral system categorised as ‘urgent’ and ‘routine’.
Tsinontides explained, “With the new referral system starting tomorrow, which will be of two types: ‘urgent’ and ‘routine’, as decided, we aim to serve patients facing an urgent issue on one hand, and facilitate our doctors on the other, who will know in advance the condition of a patient coming to them and will plan accordingly, prioritising urgent cases.”
Tsinontides also addressed the adaptation process for doctors within the system, stating, “We believe our doctors have largely been doing this, but now we are taking a step further because, with a documented approach, our general practitioners can more accurately guide the specialists within the system.”
He further mentioned ten days for addressing urgent referrals, highlighting the need for understanding from the public regarding the doctors’ pre-existing commitments. “I am sure that very urgent cases will not be neglected and will continue to receive the timely treatment they need,” he assured.
Furthermore, Tsinontides made a specific appeal to the general practitioners of the General Health System (GHS), urging them to make effective use of the new system. “We also ask our general practitioners to properly use the tool they now have in their hands and to correctly mark the referrals according to the actual needs of their patients.”
Highlighting the role of patient cooperation, Tsinontides pointed out the importance of respecting medical judgments. “Our beneficiaries must accept and respect their doctor’s judgment, who has the knowledge and authority to decide whether a case is urgent or not,” he stated.
Concluding his remarks, Tsinontidis stressed the collective responsibility in the successful implementation of the new referral system, stating, “We understand that the responsibility to make the system with the new referrals work lies with all involved parties because if the beneficiaries pressure doctors to mark their referrals as urgent, or if some doctors do not respond to the urgency of a referral, it means we will not achieve our goal.”
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