Categories of patients who no longer need a referral or admission ticket when I go to the doctor

Patients with chronic conditions included in national health programs will have easier access to medical consultations and investigations. They can go directly to the outpatient specialist, without making a road to the family doctor, to receive a referral ticket.

The measure is provided in a common order of the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance House, published in the Official Gazette, and the new rules will be applied from the next period.

It is also valid in the case of hospitalization tickets – patients with chronic conditions no longer need to pass, first, to the family doctor's office to get the hospitalization ticket.

The key provisions of the common order no. 525/1.047/2025 of the Ministry of Health and CNAS:

• “In order to benefit from the services provided in paragraph (1) letter a), the persons provided for in Art. 1 may be presented directly to the specialized doctor in the clinical specialized ambulatory, without the need to present the referral ticket.”
• “In order to benefit from the services provided in paragraph (1) letter a) – r), the persons provided in art. 1 can be presented directly to the health unit with beds, without the need to present the hospitalization ticket.”

“It is a common sense measure, which saves time, energy and health. This order represents a necessary change, which not only simplifies a process, but expresses respect for the dignity and the right to treatment of people who already carry a heavy struggle,” writes Mihăiță Bariz, patient with cystic fibrosis and activist for the rights of the patient.

“It is a clear proof that it can be and that, where there is will, solutions appear,” he adds.

Patients treated in national health programs

13 categories of patients with chronic disorders in Romania benefit from treatment within the national health programs managed by the National Health Insurance House:

• The national program of cardiovascular disease;
• The national program of endocrine diseases;
• The national diabetes program;
• The National Oncology Program;
• National Orthopedics Program;
• National Mental Health Program;
• The national program for supplementing the renal function;
• The national program of intensive care of liver failure;
• The national program for transplant organs, tissues and cells of human origin;
• The national program for the treatment of neurological diseases;
• The national program of treatment of hemophilia and talasemia;
• The national program of treatment of deafness;
• The national treatment program for rare diseases.

Two other important categories of chronic patients benefit from treatment within two health programs managed by the Ministry of Health:

• The National Program for Prevention, Supervision and Control of HIV/AIDS infection;
• The National Program for Tuberculosis Prevention, Supervision and Control.

In the case of patients with conditions included in these programs, the new provisions will be applied.