The European Patients’ Rights Directive: A clarification and codification of individual rights relating to cross border healthcare and novel initiatives aimed at improving pan-European healthcare co-operation

Abstract

This paper undertakes a contextual analysis of the main aims of Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare, commonly known as the Patients’ Rights Directive (the PRD). The PRD itself does not aim to provide a new system for coordinating social security entitlements, leaving the regime laid down in (EEC) 1408/71 and later (EC) 883/2004 unaffected. Rather, it is intended that the PRD will supplement the rights that these instruments were intended to provide. The main aims of the PRD instead concern matters related to the prior authorisation of healthcare, the reimbursement of healthcare and the removal of unjustified obstacles from doing so. This paper explores how the Directive sets out to achieve these aims and analyses it within the context of other related European Union legislation and jurisprudence in the area. Alongside this primary aim of codifying European Court of Justice case law, the PRD also introduces novel initiatives aimed at fostering cross-border cooperation between various elements of national healthcare systems. These issues will be dealt with in detail in a subsequent paper.