Some measures come into effect this Monday, August 1st. Here is a summary.
Like every month, we are explaining the measures that come into effect at the beginning of the month. Here is a summary of what changes from this Monday, August 1st.
New rules for remote consultations
A new framework will be established for the fees and reimbursement of remote medical consultations, as of August 1. The first teleconsultation codes created during the Covid crisis will disappear and be replaced by other codes governing telephone and video consultations. The latter will be paid more and the patient will now have to contribute to the costs of the consultation.
Concretely, the final amount due will amount to four euros for a video consultation and two euros for a telephone consultation (in both cases, a patient benefiting from the increased intervention of the Inami will only pay one euro). The number of remote consultations reimbursed will ultimately not be limited. In addition, four conditions must be met for a remote consultation to be reimbursed. This must be a consultation with a doctor whom the patient has already consulted, with a specialist to whom another doctor has referred him, or even with a general medicine on-call service. This consultation must come from a request from the patient and have the agreement of the doctor, the latter being required to have access to the patient’s file during this consultation. Finally, the platform used for a video interview must be secure and comply with good practices in this area.
A reduced-rate loan for the renovation of housing in the Brussels Region
Homeowners or tenants in the Brussels Region will be able, from 1 August, to benefit from a credit at a reduced rate for the renovation of housing.
Concretely, the rate of this credit, called “Ecoreno” will be set at 0 or 1% depending on the applicant’s income. It will cover the financing of building insulation, safety and sanitation work, as well as development work related to autonomy. The loan will be granted on the condition that the household does not exceed a maximum amount of income. For a single person or a single-parent family, it will be capped at 61,049 to 81,049 euros depending on the number of dependents (0 to 4). For other households, the ceiling will be set at 77,699 to 97,699 euros depending on the composition of the household.
Non-conventioned speech therapists may charge supplements to their patients
In mid-July, speech therapists chose 59.51% to opt out. The latest agreement for speech therapists, R/22 setting the official rates for their services, was approved with indexed rates, at the end of May, by the members of the insurance committee, at the level of the National Institute for Health Insurance- Invalidity (Inami), and was then validated by the Council of Ministers.
From August 1, 2022, speech therapists who have not accepted the agreement will be able to charge supplements to their patients. Previously set at 28.33 euros per session of at least 30 minutes, the rates have been increased to 29.28 euros, on the basis of indexation alone, with the new agreement. The patient’s share is 5.50 euros and the remaining 23.78 euros are reimbursed by the compulsory healthcare insurance.
The associations of speech therapists demanded a revaluation of the sector to reach 33.40 euros per basic consultation. They had therefore refused, in committee, to sign the sectoral agreement for January 1, which is now imposed without their agreement. This is the first time that a consensus might not be found. Speech therapists who are not under agreement are free to set their own prices and they can charge a supplement to the patient. On the side of the Christian Mutual, it is expected “that this supplement will probably amount to 4.12 euros, which brings the total cost for the patient to 9.62 euros per session”.
