EU Commission adopts rules on medical prescriptions when travelling to another EU country

On 20 December the Commission adopted rules on a list of elements to be included in a medical prescription taken by a patient travelling from one EU country to another. The provisions for a common way to identify the patient, the prescriber and the prescribed product are to be put into national law by the Member States by 25 October 2013. Coordination of medical prescriptions for both medicinal products (pharmaceuticals) and medical devices will improve the authentication of cross-border prescriptions and translate into an estimated extra 200 000 prescriptions dispensed every year, benefiting patients and health authorities by avoiding delays, interruptions in treatment and extra costs.

Overall, the number of cross-border prescriptions is estimated to be low, around 2,3 million per year(between 0.02% and 0.04% of all prescriptions in the EU). However, improving the recognition of cross-border prescriptions makes an important difference for specific groups of patients. For example, for patients with chronic diseases wishing to travel to another country, for patients living in border regions or smaller Member States for whom filling out a cross-border prescription is a necessity and for patients with a rare disease, where the best expertise can be found across a border.

With the current diversity of prescriptions across the EU, it is estimated that over half of patients would have problems with their prescription being recognised in another EU country.

National Contact Points, established under the Cross-border healthcare Directive will inform patients on the right to travel with a cross-border prescription when visiting another Member State as well as the minimum list of elements that it should contain.

For more information on cross-border healthcare, including prescriptions:

http://ec.europa.eu/health/cross_border_care/policy/index_en.htm