CAP OF 25 PATIENT VISITS PER DAY TO ORTHOPAEDICS SET BY GESY

in-cyprus 21 July 2020 - by Maria Bitar

The Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) has now put a cap of 25 patient visits per day to Orthopaedics.

Orthopaedic doctors will now only be able to enter/register 25 patients per day in the General Health System software.

Cardiologists also get a cap on the amount of electrocardiograms (EKG’s) they can perform per month as the number cannot exceed 70% of the total monthly number of visits for which they’ll require compensation for by the HIO.

The HIO initiates this method of applying certain restrictions per medical speciality in an attempt to end the abuses registered through the General Healthcare System (GESY).

It launches with the specialities of orthopaedics and cardiology and in the following days restrictions for more specialities will be announced.

This is a bid to “obligate” doctors to act more responsibly and to not submit patients to unnecessary tests and not an attempt to punish them the Deputy Director of HIO Athos Tsinontides said to Philenews.

“The process of adding and removing restrictions will be continuous and we will move according to the recommendations of our doctors”, he added.

Restrictions will apply to giving injections that apply to tendon ailments for orthopaedics.
In cases where the numbers monthly are exceeded the HIO will not reimburse the doctors and the doctors will not be allowed to receive payment by the beneficiaries for them either.

In regards to cardiology the restrictions will also apply to the “fatigue test” procedure at 15% and the “duplex scans” at 8%.

Additionally, no multiple procedures may be claimed over the course of a single patient visit by the doctors.

HIO added that they reserve the right afforded to them by the law to impose penalties in cases where repeated abuses of the system are detected.

Depending on the nature of the violation HIO may order or suggest to the repeat offender to stop doing it within a reasonable time limit and to avoid its recurrence in the future.

They added that they may also impose an administrative fine that can’t be higher than 30,000 euro depending on the nature, duration and gravity of the violation.

Continuation of the violation after than will be subject to an additional administrative fine anywhere from 340 euro to 3400 euro for every additional day it occurs depending on its gravity.