Free physiotherapy to be offered in parts of Denmark
The national board for Denmark’s health authorities says it will trial free physiotherapy services in parts of the country.
The trial will be set in motion by Danske Regioner, the national board that represents the country’s five regional health authorities.
Select municipalities in each Region will offer free access to physiotherapy (also known as physical therapy) services with referral from a doctor, Danske Regioner said in a press statement on Thursday.
“We want to make sure there are as few obstacles as possible in relation to getting the right treatment at the right time,” the board’s elected head of committee for local health services, Christoffer Buster Reinhardt, said in the statement.
“Free access to physiotherapy can be a good place to start in this regard,” he said.
Currently, patients need a referral from a doctor to see a physiotherapist under the national health system.
Private physiotherapy services can be accessed without a referral. Patients must pay for private services themselves but can pay reduced fees if they take out semi-nationalised “danmark” insurance coverage for secondary health services.
The trial will see Regions allow people in participating municipalities to directly book free appointments with physiotherapists with first seeing their doctor.
A similar project has already been trialled in two Greater Copenhagen municipalities, with enough success to now broaden the scheme.
The Regions will document the effects of the broader trial to assess its effects on both patients and the health system, according to the statement.
This is to include scrutiny of which patient groups most frequently use the service, and how it affects expenses paid by health authorities for subsidising the services.
Permission must be obtained from the Health Ministry before the trial is launched.
The exact number of municipalities in the trial, and their identity, is yet to be decided.
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The trial will be set in motion by Danske Regioner, the national board that represents the country’s five regional health authorities.
Select municipalities in each Region will offer free access to physiotherapy (also known as physical therapy) services with referral from a doctor, Danske Regioner said in a press statement on Thursday.
“We want to make sure there are as few obstacles as possible in relation to getting the right treatment at the right time,” the board’s elected head of committee for local health services, Christoffer Buster Reinhardt, said in the statement.
“Free access to physiotherapy can be a good place to start in this regard,” he said.
Currently, patients need a referral from a doctor to see a physiotherapist under the national health system.
Private physiotherapy services can be accessed without a referral. Patients must pay for private services themselves but can pay reduced fees if they take out semi-nationalised “danmark” insurance coverage for secondary health services.
The trial will see Regions allow people in participating municipalities to directly book free appointments with physiotherapists with first seeing their doctor.
A similar project has already been trialled in two Greater Copenhagen municipalities, with enough success to now broaden the scheme.
The Regions will document the effects of the broader trial to assess its effects on both patients and the health system, according to the statement.
This is to include scrutiny of which patient groups most frequently use the service, and how it affects expenses paid by health authorities for subsidising the services.
Permission must be obtained from the Health Ministry before the trial is launched.
The exact number of municipalities in the trial, and their identity, is yet to be decided.
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