EDI - European Association of Dental Implantologists

EDI 61
European Law
Member States, whether or not patients are eligible
for a certain benefit or if they can claim reimbursement
in their Member States.
Aside from the immense amount of time this
information requirement would consume, it certainly
cannot be a physician’s duty to advise patients of
the numerous requirements of cross-border healthcare.
If anything, this task should be performed by
the national contact points.
The European Commission also wants to establish
common guidelines concerning the quality and safety
of medical care and to increasingly assure the
Member States’ compliance with these guidelines.
The Commission’s intention is to motivate the Member
States to improve their standards of quality and
safety and to align themselves with the actual state
of medical science to match up the levels of provision
within the Member States. Germany has many years
of experience with such guidelines, which are almost
invariably out of date by the time they are enacted.
This problem will increase if guidelines are to be
developed for all Member States at the same time.
The proposed directive still has to be ratified by the
European Parliament and Council. As with the directive
on services, the European Parliament will probably
request various amendments. The directive might
therefore not be ratified before a new parliament is
elected in the summer of 2009.
Solicitor Nico Gottwald
Ratajczak & Partners
Berlin · Cologne · Essen · Freiburg
Meissen · Munich · Sindelfingen
Posener Straße 1
71065 Sindelfingen, Germany
1 Flash Eurobarometer Series #210, Cross-border
health services in the EU, Analytical report, conducted
by the Gallup Organization, Hungary upon the
request of the European Commission, the Health
and Consumer Protection Directorate-General (DG
SANCO), 2007.