services in the field of long-term care the purpose of which is to support people in need of assistance in carrying out routine, everyday tasks;

allocation of and access to organs for the purpose of organ transplants;

with the exception of Chapter IV, public vaccination programmes against infectious diseases which are exclusively aimed at protecting the health of the population on the territory of a Member State and which are subject to specific planning and implementation measures.

the legislation of the Member State of treatment;

standards and guidelines on quality and safety laid down by the Member State of treatment; and

Union legislation on safety standards.

patients receive from the national contact point referred to in Article 6, upon request, relevant information on the standards and guidelines referred to in paragraph 1(b) of this Article, including provisions on supervision and assessment of healthcare providers, information on which healthcare providers are subject to these standards and guidelines and information on the accessibility of hospitals for persons with disabilities;

healthcare providers provide relevant information to help individual patients to make an informed choice, including on treatment options, on the availability, quality and safety of the healthcare they provide in the Member State of treatment and that they also provide clear invoices and clear information on prices, as well as on their authorisation or registration status, their insurance cover or other means of personal or collective protection with regard to professional liability. To the extent that healthcare providers already provide patients resident in the Member State of treatment with relevant information on these subjects, this Directive does not oblige healthcare providers to provide more extensive information to patients from other Member States;

there are transparent complaints procedures and mechanisms in place for patients, in order for them to seek remedies in accordance with the legislation of the Member State of treatment if they suffer harm arising from the healthcare they receive;

systems of professional liability insurance, or a guarantee or similar arrangement that is equivalent or essentially comparable as regards its purpose and which is appropriate to the nature and the extent of the risk, are in place for treatment provided on its territory;

the fundamental right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data is protected in conformity with national measures implementing Union provisions on the protection of personal data, in particular Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC;

in order to ensure continuity of care, patients who have received treatment are entitled to a written or electronic medical record of such treatment, and access to at least a copy of this record in conformity with and subject to national measures implementing Union provisions on the protection of personal data, in particular Directives 95/46/EC and 2002/58/EC.

if a Member State is listed in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and in compliance with that Regulation has recognised the rights to sickness benefits for pensioners and the members of their families, being resident in a different Member State, it shall provide them healthcare under this Directive at its own expense when they stay on its territory, in accordance with its legislation, as though the persons concerned were residents in the Member State listed in that Annex;

if the healthcare provided in accordance with this Directive is not subject to prior authorisation, is not provided in accordance with Chapter 1 of Title III of the Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, and is provided in the territory of the Member State that according to that Regulation and Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 is, in the end, responsible for reimbursement of the costs, the costs shall be assumed by that Member State. That Member State may assume the costs of the healthcare in accordance with the terms, conditions, criteria for eligibility and regulatory and administrative formalities that it has established, provided that these are compatible with the TFEU.

is made subject to planning requirements relating to the object of ensuring sufficient and permanent access to a balanced range of high-quality treatment in the Member State concerned or to the wish to control costs and avoid, as far as possible, any waste of financial, technical and human resources and:

involves treatments presenting a particular risk for the patient or the population; or

is provided by a healthcare provider that, on a case-by-case basis, could give rise to serious and specific concerns relating to the quality or safety of the care, with the exception of healthcare which is subject to Union legislation ensuring a minimum level of safety and quality throughout the Union.

the patient will, according to a clinical evaluation, be exposed with reasonable certainty to a patient-safety risk that cannot be regarded as acceptable, taking into account the potential benefit for the patient of the sought cross-border healthcare;

the general public will be exposed with reasonable certainty to a substantial safety hazard as a result of the cross-border healthcare in question;

this healthcare is to be provided by a healthcare provider that raises serious and specific concerns relating to the respect of standards and guidelines on quality of care and patient safety, including provisions on supervision, whether these standards and guidelines are laid down by laws and regulations or through accreditation systems established by the Member State of treatment;

this healthcare can be provided on its territory within a time limit which is medically justifiable, taking into account the current state of health and the probable course of the illness of each patient concerned.

the specific medical condition;

the urgency and individual circumstances.

limited to what is necessary and proportionate to safeguard human health, and non-discriminatory; or

based on legitimate and justified doubts about the authenticity, content or comprehensibility of an individual prescription.

measures enabling a health professional to verify the authenticity of the prescription and whether the prescription was issued in another Member State by a member of a regulated health profession who is legally entitled to do so through developing a non-exhaustive list of elements to be included in the prescriptions and which must be clearly identifiable in all prescription formats, including elements to facilitate, if needed, contact between the prescribing party and the dispensing party in order to contribute to a complete understanding of the treatment, in due respect of data protection;

guidelines supporting the Member States in developing the interoperability of ePrescriptions;

measures to facilitate the correct identification of medicinal products or medical devices prescribed in one Member State and dispensed in another, including measures to address patient safety concerns in relation to their substitution in cross border healthcare where the legislation of the dispensing Member State permits such substitution. The Commission shall consider, inter alia, using the International Non-proprietary Name and the dosage of medicinal products;

measures to facilitate the comprehensibility of the information to patients concerning the prescription and the instructions included on the use of the product, including an indication of active substance and dosage.

to help realise the potential of European cooperation regarding highly specialised healthcare for patients and for healthcare systems by exploiting innovations in medical science and health technologies;

to contribute to the pooling of knowledge regarding sickness prevention;

to facilitate improvements in diagnosis and the delivery of high-quality, accessible and cost-effective healthcare for all patients with a medical condition requiring a particular concentration of expertise in medical domains where expertise is rare;

to maximise the cost-effective use of resources by concentrating them where appropriate;

to reinforce research, epidemiological surveillance like registries and provide training for health professionals;

to facilitate mobility of expertise, virtually or physically, and to develop, share and spread information, knowledge and best practice and to foster developments of the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases, within and outside the networks;

to encourage the development of quality and safety benchmarks and to help develop and spread best practice within and outside the network;

to help Member States with an insufficient number of patients with a particular medical condition or lacking technology or expertise to provide highly specialised services of high quality.

by connecting appropriate healthcare providers and centres of expertise throughout their national territory and ensuring the dissemination of information towards appropriate healthcare providers and centres of expertise throughout their national territory;

by fostering the participation of healthcare providers and centres of expertise in the European reference networks.

adopt a list of specific criteria and conditions that the European reference networks must fulfil and the conditions and criteria required from healthcare providers wishing to join the European reference network. These criteria and conditions shall ensure, inter alia, that European reference networks:

develop and publish criteria for establishing and evaluating European reference networks;

facilitate the exchange of information and expertise in relation to the establishment of European reference networks and their evaluation.

work towards delivering sustainable economic and social benefits of European eHealth systems and services and interoperable applications, with a view to achieving a high level of trust and security, enhancing continuity of care and ensuring access to safe and high-quality healthcare;

draw up guidelines on:

support Member States in developing common identification and authentication measures to facilitate transferability of data in cross-border healthcare.