Procedures for Provision of Remote Healthcare Services

Remote healthcare (hereinafter referred to as “RHC”) is a service provided by a family medical practitioner or the family practitioner’s team through remote means of communication without the patient being directly attending a medical check-up.

The purpose of the RHC service is to continue to provide the patient with prescription of research, pharmaceuticals or medical aids (including those covered by means of the budget of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund) without the patient having to participate directly in the medical check-up.

The patient or his / her representative shall be responsible for providing correct data in relation to the patient's state of health by remote means.

The patient or their representative should call the reception at (8 5) 250 2000 to request an RHC service. The RHC service must be provided to the patient within no later than 5 business days from the date of application.

When providing an RHC, a family medical practitioner or their team member may:

• continue prescription of the reimbursable pharmaceuticals or medical aids previously prescribed by the doctor to an adult patient, by prescribing a prescription in accordance with applicable legislation; if the prescription is made to a child, the prescription period will not exceed one month;
• comment on the results of examinations performed to the patient or his / her representative; and adjust treatment, use of reimbursable pharmaceuticals or medical aids accordingly, when the patient's condition is stable;
• provide repeat laboratory tests.

The RHC service may be provided to the patient no more than once. After the RHC is provided, the patient must visit the family practitioner the next time.

 An RHC service may be unavailable if:

• the patient has not made a request to receive the RHC by signing the Patient's consent to the remote healthcare service;
• the patient has already been provided with an RHC service for the same reason (prescription of repeated examinations and / or prescribed reimbursable pharmaceuticals and / or medical aids). The RHC service cannot be provided two consecutive times;
• the patient has not attended an appointment in person with any of the members of the family practitioner team at the polyclinic for more than 7 months;
• the patient has not provided a contact telephone number at which he / she is willing to receive the RHC service;
• the patient has not identified a family practitioner member whose RHC service he / she is willing to receive;
• a member of the family practitioner team cannot confirm the accuracy of the health information provided by the patient or his / her representative, or assess the patient's condition without a check-up;
• The requested service is not an RHC service because it is a new treatment case or it is requested to prescribe reimbursement pharmaceuticals or any medical aids not previously used by the patient.

If a member of your family practitioner team decides not to provide an RHC service:

• the patient must be registered for a family practitioner consultation in the normal manner;
• The reason for a refusal to provide RHC service to the patient is recorded in the patient's medical records.