Choosing and changing a family physician
- In order to register with the family physician or change him/her, an application for inclusion in the list must be submitted to your preferred family physician. The main reasons for changing the family physician are a change of residence or dissatisfaction with his/her service. It is recommended that you choose a family physician as close as possible to where you live. The service area of a family physician and the availability of vacancies in his/her list can be viewed on the EHIF's website here .
- Please submit the application to the family physician selected for registration in the list of the family physician (at the family physician’s place, by e-mail or by registered letter.
- A family physician can add new members to his/her list on the basis of applications from the patients themselves or from their parents or caretakers. The exception is a newborn who is automatically listed by his/her mother's family physician. This means that you do not have to submit an application for your newborn to get a family physician. An application must be submitted only in case if you want a different family physician for your child, not the one you are registered with.
- The family physician will notify you of the registration or refusal to register within seven working days of submitting the application for registration. In case of refusal, the family physician shall also state the reason for the refusal.
- It is necessary to submit an extract or a copy of your health record from the previous family physician to the new one.
- A family physician may refuse to include a person in his/her list if this list is full (up to 2,000 people may be on the list of one family physician, or 2,400 if an assistant doctor also works for the family physician) or if the person does not reside in the service area of that family physician.
The Health Board, in coordination with the Health Insurance Fund, may allow contraventions depending on the specifics of the area. A family physician may include a person in his/her list, regardless of exceeding the limit, if the person’s family member is also included in this list. - A family physician may include in his/her list, notwithstanding the exceeding of the limit value, the family members of the members of the list if they are registered in the service area of that family physician on the basis of the population register. Information on service areas is available from the Health Insurance Fund.
- The EHIF appoints minor children who do not have a family physician to the list of family physicians on the basis of the place of residence according to the population register. On the basis of permanent residence, those persons who have not chosen a family physician for themselves may be registered by the EHIF in the list of a family physician, when notifying the persons in writing that a family physician has been appointed for them.