On 1 January 2019, an amendment to the Public Health Insurance Act entered into force, which brought about a new system of reimbursement of medical devices supplied on medical prescription. The need for a new system arose after the Constitutional Court had decided, in June 2017, to abolish the existing reimbursement system for contravention of the right to free health care by allowing insurers to determine themselves whether and how much they would pay for medical devices. The patients’ entitlement to reimbursements for medical devices is thus now newly stipulated by law.

Medical devices remain divided into several groups upon the manufacturers’ decision and notification to the State Institute for Drug Control. The institute will publish a complete list of all eligible medical devices in the second half of this year, with subsequent monthly updates.

The new reimbursements of medical devices will start to apply as of the last quarter of this year, exception for custom made medical devices which have already been covered by the new system since 1 January 2019.