The NHIF: dental prosthetics – fast and simple

Date

2022 12 27

Rating

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It’s been nearly two years since patients don’t need to wait in lines for eligibility for dental prosthesis services, reimbursed by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (CHIF). Moreover, a large scope of treatment facilities, offering dental prosthesis, to choose from enable patients to get the needed services much faster. Where do you start in case of a need for dental prosthesis, who can benefit from reimbursements of these services and how do you pick your treatment facility – all these questions have been answered by specialists of the health insurance funds.

‘The times of patients waiting years for reimbursement of dental prosthesis and then the services themselves are already in the past. Now they don't need to fill out various documents, wait for confirmation letters of being included into the queue from the health insurance funds, and then – for the eligibility for reimbursement of services. The process became simpler and shorter both to the patients and the doctors. The number of dental prosthesis services provided is growing every year. A comparison of the data of this year’s period from January to October to the same period in 2021 shows that the number of patients receiving this service has increased by as much as 27 per cent.’ says Rasa Savičiūtė, Chief Specialist of the Services Management Division at the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) under the Ministry of Health.

The procedure of providing dental prosthesis services is the same as with other specialised services, covered from the CHIF. This means that patients must firstly contact their dentist at the medical facility they are registered with, or another facility, which has an agreement regarding the provision and payment for dental care services with the National Health Insurance Fund. A doctor will establish the need for dental prosthesis, issue an electronic referral, and then the patient can contact the chosen medical facility that has an agreement with the health insurance funds.

According to the NHIF, the number of medical facilities, offering CHIF-covered dental prosthesis services, increased by 11 per cent since last year and by 60 per cent since the year before last. Thus, picking a facility for dental prosthesis services is not difficult with 1,070 medical facilities currently offering these services under an agreement with the health insurance funds. It’s convenient to pick the facility, based on your location, using the interactive search, provided by the health insurance funds. It contains and keeps updating information on health care facilities, offering dental prosthesis services, all over Lithuania. It is recommended to pick the facility with shortest queues, regardless if it's a private or public facility.

‘Doctors performing dental prosthesis must provide quality services and pick dental prosthesis measures to completely restore the chewing function. Then the patient, consulted by an expert doctor, can pick the most suitable from all available options. In cases, when dental prosthesis service costs for some reason exceed the reimbursed amount, established by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund, patients will have to pay the difference by themselves.’ says Savičiūtė.

Currently, based on the condition of the teeth, old-age pension receivers, people with disabilities and patients that received treatment for an oncological disease of the mouth, face and jaws, are reimbursed up to 670.39 euro, and children – up to 342.13 euro from CHIF. In rare cases, which require a more complex and more expensive treatment (the decision is made by a council of dentists), the reimbursement may amount up to 2,062.70 euro.

This year, 49.5 million euro of CHIF funds were allocated for reimbursement of dental prosthesis services, which is nearly 9 million more than last year. The funds allocated to reimburse these services is expected to grow in the following years as well.

(Freepik pict.)

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