The Expansion of Patients' Rights in Europe: A New Perspective for Healthcare Abroad

AuthorDe Angelis, M.
PositionUniversità Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Management, Ancona, Italy
Pages211-220
Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov
Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 7 (56) No. 1 - 2014
THE EXPANSION OF PATIENTS' RIGHTS
IN EUROPE: A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR
HEALTHCARE ABROAD
Monica DE ANGELIS1
Abstract: This article aims to reflect on the enlargement of patients’ rights
in Europe and the future effects of the application of the provisions of EU
Directive 2011/24 on cross-border healthcare. These new rules, in fact, if
properly implemented, could contribute to a more responsible management
of health care, to counter the inefficiency of the health facilities, to contain
the phenomenon of waiting lists and to allow a more concrete freedom of
care. But they can fully achieve their goal only if really allowing all patients
(regardless of income level, social standing, etc.) to be able to enjoy their
effects.
Key words: patients’ rights, cross border healthcare, effectiveness of
treatment, networks of healthcare providers.
1 Università Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Management, Ancona, Italy.
1. Cross-border health care and the
expansion of patients’ rights
It is well known that, generally, people
prefer to receive medical care and/ or
health services near the place of
residence. But there are certain
circumstances in which it is possible for
patients to draw benefits in using
healthcare services elsewhere than the
place where they usually live: not only in
the event that the closest health center is
across the border, but especially when
you want to treat yourself in a center of
excellence or when health treatments can
be delivered faster. It is no coincidence,
therefore, if for long time the Court of
Justice has been facing the issue of
healthcare abroad, by focusing - in
particular - on the relationship between
the right to movement of citizens and
protection of the right to health [1]. It is
hardly necessary to emphasize that the
opening of borders to patients, although
conceived according to market logic, is a
reinforcement of the protection to health,
as it strengthens the possibility of
choosing the types of services and
providers.
However, it is clear that the movement
of patients, if it is not supported by
sufficient resources, takes a very elitist
connotation [2]: that’s why the Court of
Justice has immediately tried to identify
the legal basis of reference relating to the
financial support for treatment abroad, to
the type of healthcare which can be
redeemed and to conditions of
reimbursement. In its judgments, the
Court has enunciated principles that have
been calling into question some of the
assumptions underlying state of social

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