Member States should do more to inform patients of the options currently available to them for finding suitable healthcare outside of their country of residence. This was one of the assessments made by Luxembourg’s Health Minister, L. Mutsch, and Health and Food Safety Commissioner, V. Andriukaitis, following a roundtable discussion at the Health Council held in Luxembourg on the 24-25 September.
There are problems with the contact points in Member States (some of which provide a poor quality of information) and reimbursement of costs (with some countries reimbursing an amount lower than the expected percentage of the costs). Efforts are needed to encourage patients to travel abroad for treatment. In order to provide equal access to high-quality healthcare for citizens and enhance patient mobility, ministers present at the Health Council stressed the importance of closer cooperation on rare diseases and e-health, as well as on the provision of quality information to patients.