NHS visitor and migrant cost recovery programme - new guidance

NHS visitor and migrant cost recovery programme
DHSC First published 1 August 2018

• A suite of guidance and resources for NHS organisations and frontline staff including 
• How the NHS charges overseas visitors for NHS hospital care
• Providing healthcare for overseas visitors from the EEA: information for primary care staff
• EU cross-border healthcare directive: information for NHS providers
• Resources for NHS trusts to help manage overseas visitors and migrant charging

Updated guidance around charges for overseas patients - conception services and CHC

Guidance on overseas visitors hospital charging regulations
Department of Health updated 22 August 2017

• Revised preparatory guidance for NHS bodies who need to make and recover hospital charges from overseas visitors. Includes final version of Guidance on implementing the overseas visitor charging regulations 
• This guidance provides help and advice on the implementation of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, which has been amended most recently by the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Amendment) Regulations 2017.
• Amendments as of 21 August 2017, and 23 October 2017 are outlined as below.

Making a fair contribution: government response to the consultation on charges for NHS services

Making a fair contribution: government response to the consultation on the extension of charging overseas visitors and migrants using the NHS in England

Department of Health 6 February 2017

• This paper sets out what the government intends to do to extend charging rules to wider areas of NHS, so that visitors and migrants a contribution for the care that they access.
• This includes:
• requiring NHS providers to obtain charges upfront and in full before a chargeable overseas visitor can access non-urgent treatment
• bringing out of hospital secondary care services and NHS-funded services provided by non-NHS organisations, within the services that chargeable overseas visitors will have to pay for
• removing assisted reproduction services from those that a person who has paid the immigration health surcharge can access without charge
• See News story Recovering the cost of NHS treatments given to overseas visitors

PAC call for improved system to recover treatment costs from overseas patients

NHS treatment for overseas patients
Public Accounts Committee 1 February 2017

• Some treatments, including GP appointments and accident and emergency care, are currently free to all patients; and some patients, such as refugees and those applying for asylum, are exempt from charges. However most hospital care is chargeable to overseas visitors. 
• Healthcare commissioners (NHS England and local clinical commissioning groups) bear the cost when trusts do not identify chargeable overseas patients, and have powers to audit trusts to ensure they have appropriate policies and procedures in place. The NHS standard contract makes clear that clinical commissioning groups should not have to pay for treatment provided to chargeable overseas visitors if a trust does not make reasonable efforts to recover the costs. It is the responsibility of commissioners to challenge hospital trusts to show they are identifying and charging all the overseas patients they should.
• The Public Accounts Committee found significant unexplained variation in cost recovery between hospital trusts and has called on the Department of Health to improve systems for cost recovery. 

Cost recovery from non EEA visitors and migrants

Recovering costs of NHS healthcare from visitors and migrants
Department of Health 14 July 2014

• This guidance sets out timelines for the NHS to improve systems that recover the cost of healthcare for migrants and visitors who use the NHS (European Economic Area (EEA) and outside). 
• The implementation plan sets out a timeline for how the Cost Recovery Programme will be rolled out over the next 2 years