Cross-border health care has become a much more prominent phenomenon in the European Union. When in need of medical treatment, patients increasingly act as informed consumers who claim the right to choose their own providers, including those beyond borders. Patients are supported and encouraged by several factors, including the Internet and more internationally-trained health professionals. Even if the willingness to travel for care varies widely among Member States as well as within social groups, patient mobility is often motivated by dissatisfaction with health care provision in the home state and experienced deficiencies in the local health system. Some competent authorities and health insurers are contracting with health care providers abroad for specific procedures to ensure the timely treatment of their patients or they inform them about options and procedures.
Cross-border health care is not only restricted to patients. Medical doctors and nurses go abroad for training, to temporarily provide services or to establish themselves in another Member State. Increasingly, individual doctors and hospitals in different Member States cooperate with each other. In some cases, rather than patients or providers, even health services move across borders - through telemedicine. Cross-border health care can also include the collaboration between providers and competent financing institutions.
This book explores such trends and also looks at the legal framework for this activity as well as examining some of the legal uncertainties surrounding rights, access, reimbursement, quality and safety. It examines different approaches to these concerns and takes a look at methodologies which can be used to ease or resolve some of these issues. It marks an important step in the continuing debate on a legal framework for cross-border health care. The information and analysis presented in the study will be of considerable use to policy-makers and those with an interest in key aspects of crossborder health care.

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