As of March 13, the Health Insurance Organisation put in effect reforms for the payment of GPs on the basis of quality criteria in a bid to put the brakes on redundant referrals.
At the same time, other reforms under implementation include changes in referrals and on-call services from GPs during weekends and public holidays, Phlenews reported on Monday.
The reforms aim to improve the way doctors work within the General Health System (Gesy).
In fact, both personal and specialist doctors have been informed of their obligation to document with scientific data the reasons for requesting or approving the issue of long-term referrals for their patients.
At the same time, 21 out of 30 guidelines have already been sent to GPs with the recommendation that these should be followed before patients are referred to specialists.
As for the latest directive sent out by the HIO to all Gesy doctors in the Gesy – regardless of specialty – concerns the way long-term referrals are issued.
The HIO has noted that there has been a significant increase in the number of such referrals.
