PORDENONE – There is a regional resolution of October 2019 which implements a law, also regional, and the related government plan that regulates waiting lists. If it were respected in terms of health overruns for short prescriptions (to be filled within 10 days) there would be no more problems for patients. Yes, because that plan, on pages 22 and 23 clearly explains what the Region must do if waiting times are not respected.
THE REFUND
In practice – reads the plan – the Health Authority concerned, after having searched for all the public and private structures with which it is possible to take the exam foreseen in 10 days, must call the user back proposing the first availability found which in any case – this is important – it must not exceed the maximum times foreseen in relation to the priority code indicated on the prescription. If the Company – the rule always states – does not comply with these indications, obviously within the set times, the user, subject to authorization, can carry out the visit or examination prescribed as a freelancer. Once the service has been paid, the user delivers the bill for the expense incurred which must be reimbursed by deducting the cost of the ticket.
PATH
In practice, if the general practitioner establishes that a diagnostic test (CT, PET, MRI, ultrasound or other) or a specialist visit is of priority B (to be done within 10 days), the patient calls the call center and if he is not guaranteed the performance within the maximum time foreseen, call the Company management and communicate the situation. Again according to the law, the Company should do everything possible to guarantee the examination and call back immediately. If it doesn’t, after 10 days, the user asks for the authorization which should be automatic and goes to a private facility. He takes the exam and asks for a refund. However, we must be careful, because, for example, for a diagnostic test such as a CT scan the cost is high, even exceeding a thousand euros, but for other tests, such as an ultrasound, it costs around 100 euros.
THE RIP-OFF
So far the law. The good (or the bad) comes now. Yes, because those who have tried to take this path have been told that it is not possible to go to the private sector and then be compensated because of that law, although dated, the implementing decrees are still missing. In fact, they’ve never been done. Moral? It is not applicable. A rip off. Stefano Vignando, a general practitioner and Snami trade unionist, has been saying this for some time. «I have been fighting for years to get answers on this front – he explains – but there is still a fight to be had. There is a sentence of the justice of the peace in Puglia which is precisely the case in question. The patient was reimbursed. I believe – continues Vignando – that this road should also be opened in the region, presenting applications to the justices of the peace of the four provinces to be reimbursed. A sentence would be enough to open the doors ».
AND GIVE
After all, we published the numbers of expectations for short-term services the other day with an explanatory table, given that it dealt with the delays in the month of December. Well, in Western Friuli, only two visits respected the 10 days of waiting foreseen by priority B. All the others exceeded them, some even by weeks. Worse in Udine, at least according to hospital times. In the Friuli area, however, there are several other health facilities, both public and private, which largely guarantee the times, even if it is necessary for patients to travel several kilometers.