New tests and procedures will be reimbursed from the CHIF budget
As of 1 May, new tests and procedures will be added to the list of services financed by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (CHIF) to help diagnose and treat prostate cancer, breast cancer and intestinal infection more effectively.
“The Ministry of Health promotes the introduction of new services into the healthcare system to ensure the best possible accessibility and quality of range of services for patients. Taking into account suggestions of medical institutions and medical community as well as achievements in medical science, we make it possible to apply the most advanced diagnostic and treatment methods in Lithuania,” Odeta Vitkūnienė, the director of the Department of Personal Health of the Ministry of Health, says.
Positron emission tomography and computed tomography using prostate-specific membrane antigens, labelled with radioactive gallium (68Ga PSMA), are added to the list of services reimbursed by the CHIF. This test has a higher sensitivity and specificity than other diagnostic methods currently used in Lithuanian clinical practice. Specialist doctors will be able to prescribe the test to the patient when a diagnosis of malignant neoplasm of the prostate gland (prostate) is suspected or established. This test may be needed for around 300 patients a year, for which additional EUR 590,000 will be provided from the CHIF budget.
More tests will also be available for patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Until now, according to the established indications, patients have been subjected to a single type genetic test
ProsignaTM approved by order of the Minister of Health. The change in the wording of the Order will allow other science-based, more sensitive and reliable standardised genomic tests and breast cancer risk assessment methods to be used in Lithuania.
New treatment – faecal microbiota transplantation – will become available for patients with Clostridium difficile infection. It is an infectious disease of the intestine caused by Clostridium difficile bacteria entering human intestine and multiplying in the lining of the large intestine. The CHIF budget will cover the doctor’s consultation on the prescription of treatment for faecal microbiota transplantation, the examination of the donor and the transplantation procedure itself.
The Order of the Minister of Health on the reimbursement of new tests and procedures from the CHIF can be found HERE.
Communication Department of Ministry of Health
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Last updated: 17-05-2024
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