How many times has it happened to you that you have an illness for which you would need the consultation of the general practitioner who is always unreachable?
Endless lines at the clinics, approximate and very fast visits, medical prescriptions delivered without a word of explanation.
How to get a free medical examination in a private facility
The general practitioner, or family doctor, depends on the Local Health Authority and works in agreement with the National Health Service. The citizen who punctually pays the taxes for the guarantee of the National Health Service, therefore has full right to use the general practitioner.
On the other hand, the primary duty of the general practitioner is to evaluate the symptoms that the patient reports and, on the basis of the personal clinical history, direct him towards the right therapy.
Unfortunately, all this often does not happen. Then we turn to private facilities and paid visits, which in most cases turn out to be completely useless.
How to get a free medical examination in a private facility?
The decision-making power of the general practitioner
The general practitioner, when prescribing specialized in-depth examinations, has the possibility, by inserting a simple code, to establish the latest date by which the examination must be carried out.
The recipe codes
a) The letter U indicates the state of urgency. The National Health Service must provide the requested service within 72 hours. But beware, the patient is obliged to submit the request within 2 days of receiving the medical prescription, under penalty of losing the right of urgency.
b) Letter B indicates that the prescribed service must be paid within 10 days.
c) The letter D gives the right to receive the visit or examination indicated within 30 or 60 days of the request depending on the type of pathology.
d) The letter P refers to scheduled examinations, periodic checks, which in any case have an expiry date within 180 days.
What happens if the times indicated on the recipes are not respected?
According to Legislative Decree 124/1998 the citizen obtains the right to the same service, at a private facility, at the same rate as the National Health Service.
The procedure is very simple: it shows up at ASL a request on a simple card listing the times indicated on the commitment and declaration of the CUP (Unico Booking Center) of the failure to provide the service in due time. At the end, we inform you that, in accordance with the DL, the service will be carried out in a private facility at the expense of the National Health Service.
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