New rules and procedures for the conventional sector of the NHS

On October 29, the Secretary of State for Health Management issued Order No. 12876-C/2024 which establishes new provisions regarding the conventional sector of the National Health Service (“NHS”).

We highlight some of the main aspects that result from this Order:

• Expantion of NHS healthcare units that can request complementary diagnostic and therapeutic means (“MCDT”) from the conventional sector and the implementation of a new platform, starting in 2025, to facilitate users to request and schedule MCDT.
• Changes to some prices associated with acts provided under conventions with the NHS, which will take effect from January 1, 2025. Notwithstanding, the new Order does not make a general alteration of prices in the conventional sector and, as such, some areas are not affected by these changes.
• Definition of a general regime for changing the terms of conventions with the NHS, which stipulates that most changes only require notification to the public contracting entity, except for certain cases that require a request for authorization (subject to possible tacit approval beyond a 30-day decision period). These changes will apply from January 1, 2025, but may already impact pending procedures. Nonetheless, for the time being, it is not entirely clear how this transitional period will impact new procedures, and how the new regime will impact some of the current standard clauses for conventions with the NHS, particularly with regards to existing contracts.
• Extention until December 31, 2026, of the validity of the contracts of adhesion related to existing conventions which were in force on the date of entry into force of the legal regime of conventions, approved by Decree-Law No. 139/2013, of October 9. This provision seems to intend to, once again, extend the validity of existing conventions that were in force on October 14, 2013.

Considering the aforementioned changes, the new Order appears to have a relevant impact to the conventional sector of the NHS, potentially anticipating further developments.

In any case, and as a final note, the introduced changes leave many questions unanswered, particularly on how these new rules will apply to existing contracts that were established under previous regimes applicable to conventions with the SNS.