Changes to consumer regulations for healthcare providers

How do the new regulations affect healthcare providers, and what should be done in response to them?

You will find answers to these questions below.

What is changing?

Until now, the Consumer Rights Act did not apply to health services.

This meant that people using such services were not entitled to the rights provided for consumers (for example, the right to withdraw from a contract).

The key change concerns the introduction of an exception to this rule.

Under the new rules, the provisions of the Consumer Rights Act are to apply to contracts for health services concluded off-premises or at a distance, that is, for example, contracts concluded through a website or a mobile application.

In practice, this means above all new obligations for healthcare providers.

Among the new obligations of healthcare providers are information obligations, the obligation to inform about the right of withdrawal and the rules for exercising this right, and the obligation to provide a copy of the concluded contract.

Reviewing the terms and conditions of healthcare providers. In practice, for healthcare providers that offer the option to purchase services online, this will mean the need to review their terms and conditions and to modify them.

In the revised terms and conditions, healthcare providers should include, among other things, information regarding: the rules for the patient exercising the right to withdraw from the contract, that is, when and on what terms the patient may withdraw from the contract, and when they may not do so; information regarding the services provided, that is, which services are provided to the patient, by whom, where, and when; prices, that is, what the price for a given service is, and where it cannot be determined in advance, how it is calculated; the method and deadline for payment for the services, that is, how and when payment for the services should be made.

The right to withdraw from the contract. The Act also grants patients the right to withdraw from a contract concluded off-premises or at a distance.

For the patient, this means that they will be able to withdraw from such a contract within 14 days without having to give a reason and without incurring any costs.

In this case, it is very important to inform the patient of their right to withdraw from the contract.

If the healthcare provider fails to inform the patient of this right, the deadline for withdrawing from the contract will be extended and will expire only 12 months after the contract was concluded.

However, if within 12 months of concluding the contract the healthcare provider informs the patient of the right of withdrawal, the deadline will expire 14 days after the patient is informed.

In the event of withdrawal, the healthcare provider will also need to remember to provide the patient with confirmation that it has received the patient's statement of withdrawal.

Such confirmation should be provided to the patient on a durable medium.

A durable medium is any material or tool that enables the patient to store and access information in the future.

In practice, this means that the healthcare provider can provide the patient with such information by, for example, sending an email or by adding to the application or website a feature that allows the patient to generate a confirmation that they will be able to download, for instance in PDF form.

The patient's right to withdraw from the contract is not, however, unlimited.

The patient will not be able to withdraw from such a contract, for example, where the healthcare provider has fully performed the service with the patient's consent before the expiry of the 14-day withdrawal period.

In order for the healthcare provider to be able to rely on the exception provided above, it will, however, be necessary to inform the patient that using a given service before the expiry of the statutory deadline excludes the possibility of withdrawing from the contract.

A practical solution in this respect is to set up a simple checkbox in the application or on the website.

Such a checkbox should cover: consent to the provision of the service before the expiry of the withdrawal period, and a voluntary waiver of the right to withdraw from the contract within the statutory deadline.

Failure to provide the patient with such information and failure to give the patient the opportunity to express explicit consent may result in the patient's withdrawal deadline being reinstated. Providing the patient with the contract. Under the new regulations, healthcare providers will also be obliged to provide the contract on paper or, with the patient's consent, on another durable medium, for example by email.

If you have more questions about the changes to the regulations, or you are wondering how to implement the required changes within your website or application, get in touch with us. We will be happy to answer your questions.

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