“When planning a vacation, many things need to be considered, and unfortunately, some of them are forgotten. However, travelers going to some popular holiday destinations do not need to worry about forgetting to purchase prescription medications in Lithuania before departure. Until now, travelers could purchase necessary prescription medications with e-prescriptions issued in Lithuania in Spain, Greece, Portugal, and other EU countries, and now they can also do so in Croatia and Cyprus,” says Domantas Ozerenskis, head of the E-health department at the Registry Center.
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The exchange of e-prescription data between EU countries is enabled by the project to create the Lithuanian National E-health Contact Center information system (LNKC IS), implemented by the Registry Center together with the Ministry of Health. Besides the mentioned Croatia and Cyprus, Lithuania already exchanges e-prescription data with neighboring Latvia, Estonia, and Poland, as well as Spain, Greece, Portugal, Finland, and the Czech Republic.
The exchange of e-prescription data between Lithuania and other EU countries means that Lithuanian residents traveling to these countries can purchase the prescription medications they need based on e-prescriptions issued in Lithuania. It also allows residents of these countries to purchase medications in Lithuania based on e-prescriptions issued in their own countries.
Hundreds of patients have used the service
The international e-prescription data exchange platform contributes to the common EU goals of ensuring equal conditions for purchasing goods and receiving services among different EU member states. The European Health Data Space aims to include EU countries in exchanging e-prescriptions and other health data to achieve high-quality health data.
According to data from the Registry Center, Lithuanian residents have purchased medications nearly 2,000 times in other EU countries based on e-prescriptions issued in Lithuania. Most often, Lithuanian residents purchased the prescription medications they needed in Poland and Latvia. Lithuanian pharmacies have also served over 1,200 e-prescriptions issued in other EU countries – most often, Latvian citizens purchased medications in Lithuania.
Useful to know
LNKC IS operates within the common EU health data exchange infrastructure, which ensures cross-border exchange of e-prescriptions for EU residents, and in the future – exchange of patient health data summaries. The created functionality allows Lithuania, upon agreement with other countries on data exchange, to exchange e-prescription data throughout the EU, and also allows EU citizens visiting Lithuania to purchase the prescription medications they need in our country with their e-prescriptions.
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The Ministry of Health reminds that all reimbursable and non-reimbursable prescription medications, except narcotics, extemporaneous, and named medications, can be purchased in the EU. However, until the beginning of 2027, medications in the pharmaceutical forms of inhalers, powders, powders for injection or infusion solutions, or liquid and soft pharmaceutical forms cannot be purchased. For these pharmaceutical forms, as well as for reimbursable medical aids, paper prescriptions must still be issued as before.
It should be noted that abroad, the full price must be paid for reimbursable medications, and upon returning to Lithuania, a reimbursement claim must be submitted to the State Sickness Fund (a link to the procedure is here).
It is important to mention that it will not be possible to use a continued e-prescription in another EU country, which means that if the medication dispensing (sale) has already started in Lithuania. Similarly, if at least one dispensing of a reimbursable medication occurred abroad, the continued prescription will no longer be valid in Lithuania.
It is expected that the ability to exchange e-prescription data between different EU countries will not only ensure the health care needs of Lithuanian residents traveling in the EU but also improve the quality level of health care services provided to European citizens in Lithuania.
More information about the EU-wide project aimed at ensuring cross-border health care services for EU citizens, as well as information on which EU countries Lithuania already exchanges e-prescription data with, can be found on the website www.esveikata.lt.
