| Term | Definition of term |
|---|---|
| BREXIT | The United Kingdom exited the EU on January 31st, 2020 following a referendum by the British people on June 23rd, 2016, concluding an exit agreement with the EU and a trade and cooperation agreement. |
| Competent Member State | Member State under whose social security system the patient concerned is insured at the time of the cross-border treatment, or on behalf of whose social security system the patient concerned is insured at the time of cross-border treatment. |
| Co-payment | A set out-of-pocket amount which will not be covered by the national health service/statutory health insurance, but the insured persons will have to pay themselves (i.e. the patient’s share of the medical costs) pursuant to national legislation. |
| Cross-border healthcare | Cross-border healthcare refers to medical treatment outside the patient’s country of residence, where s/he is entitled to public healthcare (whether or not under the social security legislation of another Member State). The treatment is considered to be cross-border when received in any another EU/EEA Member State or Switzerland, without the prerequisite of sharing a geographical border with the country of residence. |
| Cross-border patient | Any natural person who seeks to receive or receives healthcare in a Member State outside his Member State of affiliation. |
| Cross-border prescription | If a medicinal product is authorised to be marketed on their territory, in accordance with Directive 2001/83/EC or Regulation (EC) No 726/2004, Member States ensure that prescriptions issued for such a product in another Member State for a named patient can be dispensed on their territory in compliance with their national legislation in force. |
| Directive 2011/24/EU | Directive 2011/24/EU of the European parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. |
| Directive 2012/52/EU | Commission Implementing Directive 2012/52/EU of 20 December 2012 laying down measures to facilitate the recognition of medical prescriptions issued in another Member State (cross-border prescriptions). |
| EKAPTY | Greek acronym for the National Center for Quality and Health Technology Assessment which provides services to the majority of the medical devices market, certifies a number of hospital departments, establishes and maintains Product, Suppliers and Specifications Registers and also develops specialized studies on behalf of entities that operate in the supply of health services. |
| EKAV | Greek National Centre for Emergency Care – Phone line: 166. |
| EKPY | Unified Health Benefits Regulation prescribing the health benefits package for the EOPYY-insured persons of the Greek statutory health insurance system, aimed at prevention, conservation, promotion, improvement and rehabilitation of their health. The health benefits package includes: ambulatory medical treatment, diagnostic/laboratory/clinical tests, dental treatment, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychotherapy, medicines, consumables, dietary supplements, medical devices, hospital treatment, supplementary healthcare (orthopedics, eyeglasses, hearing aids, prosthetics etc), long-term care, obstetric care and ivf, healthcare abroad, vaccination programs. |
| EODY | Greek acronym for the National Organization for Public Health which is responsible for disease prevention and epidemiological surveillance, as well as for the control of all communicable disease and HIV/AIDS. |
| EOF | Greek acronym for the National Organization for Medicines which is responsible for the evaluation and market authorization of pharmaceuticals. |
| EOPYY | Greek National Organization for the Provision of Health Services was founded in 2011 as a legal entity under public law. EOPYY is responsible for negotiating, contracting and remunerating health services with an extensive network of public/state and EOPYY-contracted private heahtcare providers. It is the largest statutory health insurance provider in the country providing health services for over 95% of the population. |
| E-prescription | Prescription that is electronically generated, completed, transmitted and filed. |
| ESY | Greek acronym for the National Health System which is financed by the state budget via direct and indirect tax revenues and social insurance contributions. ESY provides emergency pre-hospital, primary/ambulatory and inpatient health care through rural surgeries, local health units (TOMYs), health centres and public hospitals. |
| EEA Member States | The European Economic Area includes the 27 EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. |
| European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) | Free card, issued by the statutory social security authority, that gives the patient access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland, under the same conditions and costs (free of charge in some countries) as people covered/insured under the national health system of that country. |
| ERN | The European Reference Networks are vIrtual networks involving healthcare providers across Europe, aiming to facilitate discussion on complex or rare diseases and conditions that require highly specialised treatment, and concentrated knowledge and resources. |
| EU Member States | The European Union includes the following 27 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. |
| Frontier worker | Person pursuing an activity as an employed or self-employed person in a Member State and resides in another Member State to which s/he returns on a daily basis or at least once a week. |
| Follow-up care | Healthcare that may be required as a result of treatment or medical intervention with the purpose of providing aftercare or surveillance to ensure a good recovery. |
| General population safety risk | Particular risk for the population associated with the cross-border treatment, e.g. contamination risk as a result of traveling by a patient with a contagious disease. |
| Health professional | A doctor of medicine, a nurse responsible for general care, a dental practitioner, a midwife or a pharmacist within the meaning of Directive 2005/36/EC, or another professional exercising activities in the healthcare sector which are restricted to a regulated profession as defined in Article 3(1)(a) of Directive 2005/36/EC, or a person considered to be a health professional according to the legislation of the Member State of treatment. |
| Healthcare provider | Any natural or legal person or any other entity legally providing healthcare on the territory of a Member State. |
| ICD 10 | A system used by physicians and other healthcare providers to classify and code all diagnoses, symptoms and procedures recorded in conjunction with hospital care. The system is based on the International Classification of Diseases, which is published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and which uses unique alphanumeric codes to identify known diseases and other health problems. |
| IFET | the Institute of Medicinal Research and Technology which is responsible for the statistical analysis of the pharmaceutical market and the distribution of pharmaceutical products. |
| Incoming patient | Patient who is travelling from another EU/EEA country or Switzerland to the country concerned. |
| Inpatient treatment | Treatment requiring the patient to be admitted in the hospital or other health facility. |
| Insured person | Person or family member of a person who is subjected to the social security legislation of one or more of EU/EEA Member States. |
| KEN (DRG) | Classification of hospital medical treatments for the purpose of reimbursing hospitals for each case in a given category with a fixed fee. |
| KEPYKA | Greek acronym for the Citizens’ Service Center for Health Issues, established in the Regional Health Authorities. The Center receives reports, complaints and information queries on issues of health services under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. and cooperates with other competent bodies. |
| Law no 4213/13 | The Greek transposition Law of the Directive 2011/24/EU of 9 March 2011 on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare. |
| Medical record | All the documents containing data, assessments and information of any kind on a patient’s state of health and medical history (art. 3 (m) Directive 2011/24/EU). |
| Medical treatment | Treatment including medical diagnosis, medical treatment and prescription medicines and medical devices. |
| Medically necessary treatment | Treatment that can’t be postponed and that must be provided in order to prevent the patient from being forced to return home before the end of the planned duration of the stay abroad. |
| Member State of affiliation | Member State that is competent to grant to the insured person a prior authorization to receive appropriate treatment in another Member State. This will normally be the country where the person is insured or has the rights to sickness benefits according to the legislation. |
| Member State of treatment | Member State where the cross-border treatment is provided (or in the case of telemedicine, the Member State where the healthcare provider is located). |
| NCP | Under Directive 2011/24/EU all EU/EEA Member States established one or more National Contact Points to provide patients and other stakeholders with information on all aspects of cross-border healthcare. |
| National health system | National health service-type of healthcare systems are government-controlled healthcare systems that are responsible for the provision of state funded health services to all citizens in their country. |
| Orphanet | Orphanet was founded in France in 1997 to bring together expertise in rare diseases, to improve the diagnosis, care and treatment of patients with rare diseases. Orphanet is recognized as the official database for rare diseases by European and national law. |
| Outgoing patient | Patient who is leaving the country concerned to travel to another EU/EEA country or Switzerland. |
| Outpatient treatment | Hospital reatment provided without the patient being admitted in the hospital or other health facility. |
| Patient safety risk | Particular risk for the patient associated with the cross-border treatment, e.g. medical contra-indications for travelling. |
| Personal data | Personal data refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, that is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to his physical , physiological , mental, economic, cultural or social identity ( art. 2 (a) Directive 95/46/EU). |
| PEDY | Greek acronym for the National Primary Healthcare Networks. Ambulatory care/primary healthcare in rural, urban and semi-urban areas is mostly delivered by a network of PEDY-health centres staffed with GPs and specialists (paediatricians, gynaecologists, orthopaedists, ophthalmologists, urologists, dentists, general surgeons, psychologists, radiologists, physiotherapists, microbiologists, nurses, midwives and social workers). In addition, rural surgeries and local health units (TOMY) that are administratively linked to health centres are staffed with publicly employed doctors and medical graduates. The number of available doctors in each health centre depends on the characteristics of the covered area (e.g. size, economic growth, epidemiological profile, access to hospital etc). |
| Planned medical treatment/ Planned healthcare | Treatment provided during a temporary stay abroad of which the explicit purpose was to receive treatment there |
| Prescription | Prescription for a medicine or medical device issued by a member of a regulated health profession who is legally entitled to do so in the country in which the prescription is issued (art. 3 (k) Directive 2011/24/EU). |
| Primary healthcare | Primary healthcare or primary care may include doctor visits, diagnostic tests, physiotherapy, medicines and generally health promotion services, disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment , the integrated care and its continuation and do not require the admission to a hospital as an inpatient. |
| Private healthcare provider | Healthcare provider or professional according to the legislation of the Member state of treatment, who is working in the private or independent health sector and who is often not contracted or affiliated to the national health service/ statutory health insurance scheme. |
| Prior authorization | Authorization patients need in advance of their travel abroad from their national health service/ health insurance provider in order to be guaranteed reimbursement for their cross-border treatment. |
| Public healthcare provider | Healthcare provider who is working within the publicly funded national health system. |
| Rare diseases | Rare diseases are those that affect no more than 5 in 10.000 people. Taken together, between 6.000 and 8.000 rare diseases affect the daily lives of around 30 million people. Rare and complex diseases can cause chronic health problems and many of them are life-threatening. |
| Reimbursement | Repayment of the patient by the national statutory health insurance service for health services covered by the social security scheme. |
| Secondary healthcare | Secondary or hospital care means all the services and operations that require hospitalization, including those performed during day care, and are performed in the structures (hospitals, Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers, etc.), as defined by law. |
| S1 form | European entitlement document that a person has social security insurance when he or she does not reside in the country under whose social security system he or she is insured. S1 is issued by the competent service of the state of affiliation for the insured person. |
| S2 form | European entitlement document proving that a named insured person of a Member State is authorized to receive cross-border planned treatment, and the costs will be covered by his statutory health insurance service according to the Social Security Coordiantion Regulations (EC) 883/2004 and 987/2009. |
| Social Security Coordination Regulations (EC) 883/2004 and 987/2009 | – Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems. – Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems. |
| Telemedicine | The provision of healthcare services at a distance through the use of ICT, e.g. teleconsultation, telemonitoring, telesurgery,… |
| Third-party payment | Third-party payment refers to the direct payment of the healthcare provider by the competent national health service/health insurer. As a result, the patient enjoys treatment free of charge and only has to pay the patient’s part of the costs (co- payment). |
| Unplanned medical treatment/ Unplanned care | Treatment which becomes necessary on medical grounds due to sudden illness or injury during a temporary stay in another Member State for work, study or leisure (without the initial purpose of the patients’ travel being to receive treatment there). |
| Upfront payment | The payment of all medical costs directly to the treating healthcare provider or hospital. Possible reimbursement will have to be filed retrospectively. |
| YPE | Greek acronym for the 7 Regional Health Authurities whice plan, coordinate, supervise and control the operations of all health service providers within their territories. |
Last Update: 1 July 2021
