Employers and occupational medical clinics must refer workers who suffer occupational accidents with minor injuries to the health centers of the INS Network and not to the services of the CCSS
Given the saturation of public hospitals and the urgency of freeing beds for the care of patients due to COVID-19, the National Insurance Institute (INS) will attend to patients who are victims of accidents in its 24 health centers and in the Hospital del Trauma of transit, even in the event that the coverage of the Compulsory Automobile Insurance (SOA) runs out.
Usually patients are transferred to Caja hospitals, when the amount of SOA coverage is exhausted or was insufficient to cover the costs of medical or economic benefits necessary for the INS.
However, on May 19, the CCSS and the INS formalized an agreement to adopt and implement protocols for the care of these victims and coordinate the payments for services, which must be assumed by each institution according to their competencies.
Currently, the SOA coverage is ¢ 6 million, which could be doubled in special cases; Said limit of the basic amount of coverage per person is defined annually by the Executive Power.
“Once again we place ourselves at the command of the Costa Rican social security, as part of our social commitment and institutional values we will be dedicating ourselves to the task of establishing different strategies that allow a greater recruitment of patients to our services and in this way collaborate to avoid saturation of services in national hospitals ”, assured the general manager of the INS, Luis Fernando Campos.
In this sense, the INS will provide the necessary services, as well as technical and logistical support to guarantee the continuity of care for patients who suffer a traffic accident.
For its part, the CCSS will reimburse the costs derived from the medical-health benefits that the INS provides to the injured under this agreement and the necessary coordination will be carried out with the Red Cross and the CCSS medical headquarters in the regions.
The INS health services network will attend to the cases until discharge, and if the patient requires chronic treatment derived from the aftermath of the accident, they will be referred to the Fund, by the time it has available capacity of attention.
“This agreement will contribute to decongest emergency services, among others, greatly benefiting the use of resources for the care of COVID-19. We are promoting all possible efforts with creativity and great effort to do more with the same resources available in the face of the pandemic, in this way to serve as many patients as possible ”, explained Román Macaya Hayes, executive president of the Fund.
Employers and occupational medical clinics must refer victims of occupational accidents with minor injuries (green category) to the health centers of the INS Network and not to the services of the CCSS.
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