“One of the objectives is to avoid the insured person having to pre-finance the amount covered by the health insurance,” explained minister for social security Romain Schneider (second from right). (Photo: Paperjam)

“One of the objectives is to avoid the insured person having to pre-finance the amount covered by the health insurance,” explained minister for social security Romain Schneider (second from right). (Photo: Paperjam)

Progress is being made in the deployment of direct immediate payment of medical bills. On Wednesday, Paulette Lenert and Romain Schneider announced the launch of the first phase of the digitalisation of the medical system, namely the transfer of documents via a digital platform.

“This is the key moment for digitalisation. Our aim is to make our health system attractive both to the insured, but also to health professionals and health organisations,” said minister for health Paulette Lenert (LSAP) at a press conference on Wednesday 20 October.

Alongside minister of social security, Romain Schneider (LSAP), the national medical coordinator Dr Alain Schmit, and the president of the CNS, Christian Oberlé, Lenert launched the first phase of full healthcare digitalisation first announced last May. This will mean posting paper bills can be avoided. A communication campaign will start in the coming weeks.

“The objective of this first phase is the digital transfer of documents via the digital platform, and the launch of the first mobile applications,” said Schneider.

A QR code for fee statements

This digital platform should enable an exchange of information between health professionals, the insured patty and the health insurance companies. “One of the objectives is to avoid the insured person having to pre-finance the amount covered by the health insurance,” added Schneider. When asked about the security of this platform, he said that it was “highly secure, easy to use, and will allow for the introduction of accelerated reimbursement from 2021.”

And in the long term, the ambition of the two ministries is to move towards immediate direct payment (IDP) in 2023. "Accelerated reimbursement will already allow doctors to print out fee statements that have a QR code or to deposit digital fee statements on the platform. The CNS digitally retrieves the document from a server where it has been stored by the doctor, so that reimbursements can be executed more quickly,” continued Schneider.

Two mobile applications already exist: the CNSapp, and the DHN GesondheetsApp. “A communication campaign will soon be launched to inform policy holders about our application,” said Christian Oberlé. The next steps are set for 2022, when the deployment of digitalisation among doctors will take place, and 2023, when the deployment of immediate direct payment is planned. “The insured person will no longer have to pre-fund the CNS contribution, and the doctor will receive a single amount consisting of the patient’s contribution and the CNS contribution,” Schneider concluded.

This article was originally written in French for and has been translated and edited by Delano