Details announced regarding new regulation in health tourism

With the new regulation, it has become mandatory for all health facilities and intermediary institutions operating in the field of health tourism to work in integration with the HealthTürkiye portal. Services provided will be trackable through the portal, and patients will also be able to view the services they have received via the system.

It has become mandatory to obtain complication insurance for surgical procedures to be performed in an operating room environment within the scope of health tourism. It was stated that USHAŞ will actively support health facilities and intermediary institutions operating in the field of health tourism on international platforms, and it was announced that health facilities and intermediary institutions will designate responsible personnel to track the services provided in order to increase service quality in health tourism.

With the new regulation, it was learned that the authorization certificate for intermediary institutions that will operate in the field of health tourism will be issued by USHAŞ in accordance with the relevant legal provision, and furthermore, the services offered by intermediary institutions will be regularly monitored and reported by USHAŞ.

In the regulation, which grants health facilities the opportunity to provide remote health services to health tourists within the framework of relevant legislation, health facilities providing remote health services will announce this through the HealthTürkiye portal. In addition, it was made a requirement for health facilities to possess internationally valid accreditations and certificates created by the Turkish Institute for Health Services Quality and Accreditation (TÜSKA). In the regulation, where the validity of the International Health Tourism Authorization Certificate is linked to HealthTürkiye Performance Criteria, it was announced that these criteria are listed as patient satisfaction, patient complaints, response time, appointment waiting time, as well as turnover and financial performance, with the aim of increasing the quality of service.

It was reported that all health facilities and intermediary institutions will be regularly evaluated by the Ministry of Health and relevant institutions through methods determined based on patient complaint rates and satisfaction surveys, and these evaluations will provide the sector with an opportunity for self-assessment in order to increase and sustain service quality in health.

In the regulation, it has become mandatory for health facilities and intermediary institutions to create a website with a foreign language option and to have at least one staff member who speaks a foreign language in their units. It was announced that intermediary institutions will also provide call center services in at least two foreign languages to operate 24/7. Furthermore, it was decided that existing health facilities and intermediary institutions with Health Tourism Authorization Certificates must comply with the regulation's provisions within six months, complete their complication insurance by the end of 2025, and complete their accreditations and certificates by the end of 2026.

News Source: İHA