Skip to main content
24-04-2023

Progress: Lithuania is one of the leaders in the area of hearing implants

Iliustracija

Hearing-impaired patients receive high-level help in Lithuania. In our country, availability of cochlear implants is much better than in other countries, because conditions for their prescription are one of the most favourable to the patients, a survey carried out by the National Health Insurance Fund reveals.

“It is much easier for Lithuanian patients to get a reimbursed cochlear implant than to hearing-impaired people in other countries. For example, audiometric hearing threshold must reach 55dB for Lithuanians, and at least 70 dB for the patients in Austria, Belgium, Japan, Spain, the U.S.A. and many other countries. Also, many countries have age limits for implanting, apply additional criteria for assisted speech perception and sound intensity levels. These criteria are not applied in Lithuania at all. Thus, we find ourselves among such advanced and strong countries as Australia, Germany, Italy,” says Gediminas Toleikis, advisor of the Centrally Procured Pharmaceuticals Division of the National Health Insurance Funds under the Ministry of Health (NHIF).

The Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (CHIF) reimburses 100 pct. for three types of hearing implants: cochlear implants, BAHA bone anchored implants, middle ear hearing systems and spare processors for these devices. The most expensive hearing implants reimbursed currently are cochlear implants for children. Reference price for a unit reaches almost EUR 25.5 thousand.
100 hearing implants and processors to 87 patients were compensated by the NHIF last year, more than half of whom were children. This has required EUR 1.4 million from the CHIF. Expenses in this area have steadily increased within the last four years. When compared to 2019, it has increased by 11 pct.

Cochlear implants are prescribed to people with severely impaired hearing, when conventional hearing aids, such as hearing devices, are not effective.

It is important to know that patient’s health, hearing condition and the necessity of the implantation surgery are first assessed by doctors specialists, who perform such implantations – a consilium of doctors of Santaros Clinics of Vilnius University Hospital or Kaunas Clinics of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. A referral for consultations in these treatment institutions is issued by a family doctor or a doctor otorhinolaryngologist. If a consilium of doctors decides that patient’s health condition meets established criteria, a treatment institution itself applies to the NHIF for reimbursement of costs for the purchase of a hearing implant.

NHIF reminds that reference prices of all types of hearing implants are compensated from the CHIF to the patient to one ear once, and costs for the purchase of a spare processor are compensated not more often than every 5 years. If a hearing implant has been removed for medical reasons, a hearing implant for another ear may be compensated to a patient. Not more than two hearing implants may be prescribed to a person in total.

For more information about compensation of hearing implants, click here.

(Freepik photo)

The NHIF invites you:

Last updated: 09-08-2023

Related news:

Health budget in 2025: what benefits did we receive?

The right to be informed: what is important to know about reimbursable healthcare

Tens of millions of euros for residents’ health: for whom and how are medication co-payments covered?

Study reveals: a family doctor’s advice determines the decision to get checked

Unexpected ailments during the holidays: where to turn and what to know