rec_37

(37) Member States may maintain general conditions, criteria for eligibility and regulatory and administrative formalities for receipt of healthcare and reimbursement of healthcare costs, such as the requirement to consult a general practitioner before consulting a specialist or before receiving hospital care, also in relation to patients seeking healthcare in another Member State, provided that such conditions are necessary, proportionate to the aim, not discretionary or discriminatory. This may include an assessment by a health professional or healthcare administrator providing services for the statutory social security system or national health system of the Member State of affiliation, such as the general practitioner or primary care practitioner with whom the patient is registered, if this is necessary for determining the individual patient’s entitlement to healthcare. It is thus appropriate to require that these general conditions, criteria and formalities should be applied in an objective, transparent and non-discriminatory way and should be known in advance, based primarily on medical considerations, and that they should not impose any additional burden on patients seeking healthcare in another Member State in comparison with patients being treated in their Member State of affiliation, and that decisions should be made as quickly as possible. This should be without prejudice to the rights of the Member States to lay down criteria or conditions for prior authorisation in the case of patients seeking healthcare in their Member State of affiliation.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-11 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.