L-R: Dr Guillaume Steichen, AMMD Secretary General; Dr Alain Schmit, AMMD President; Christian Oberlé, CNS President; Romain Schneider, Minister of Social Security; Dr Carlo Ahlborn, CMD President; Credit: MSS

Luxembourg's national health fund, the CNS (Caisse Nationale de Santé), recently signed, in the presence of Luxembourg's Minister of Social Security Romain Schneider, an amendment to existing agreements with the AMMD and CMD doctors and dentists' associations paving the way to the digital exchange of information.

From May 2021, the computer systems of doctors and dentists will be progressively modernised to allow the digital exchange of information between doctors / dentists, policyholders and the CNS.

Doctors equipped with this computer system will be able to print medical bills with a QR code. Once the CNS receives the document, it can digitally retrieve the same document from a server where it was stored by the doctor's system. This eliminates the work of entering data at the CNS, thus allowing refunds to be issued more quickly.

By July 2021, the CNS expects at least 30% of doctors to already be able to avail of this digital system.

This summer, a CNS mobile application (CNS APP) will be launched allowing doctors equipped with this computer system to send their medical bills digitally, much like the teleconsultation procedure currently in place. The application will allow insured individuals to electronically download their healthcare documents and transmit them, for example to the CNS for reimbursement. 

Subsequently, digital medical bills will be quickly followed by digital prescriptions and sick leave certificates . These documents can then also be exchanged digitally between doctor and insured. The insured can then digitally access his CIT and can send it to the CNS and to his employer.

This first step towards the introduction of a third-party payer or direct payment system has been launched to gradually accustom doctors and policyholders to the use of digital exchange. The direct payment system will then be introduced in 2023.

In the meantime, the CNS will continue to make a paper version available to policyholders who are not yet fully accustomed to digitalisation.

The digitalisation of this system is the result of close collaboration between the CNS, the eSanté Agency and the AMMD.