Preface
How are European patients safeguarded when using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)? Jurisdiction, supervision and reimbursement status in the EEA area (EU and EFTA) and Switzerland
The CAM-Cancer Steering Committee has seen a need to include a comprehensive overview of legal, reimbursement and supervisory issues in its presentation of CAM treatments in cancer. In the Steering Committee meeting 29 March 2004 partners agreed to allocate grants to experts in order to summarize and refresh the existing knowledge about following issues:
- Overview of legal issues in Europe. The idea is to review and summarize the legal status of CAM in European countries’ national laws.
- Reimbursement of CAM by health insurances in Europe.
The Norwegian National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NAFKAM) in Tromsø was granted the project. During the fall of 2004 Susanne Ramstad, project assistant, made queries to the authorities in European countries concerning health laws and legislation of complementary and alternative treatments. Information has been collected from every country directly, and from written material about the matters. Since January 2005 Gerd Ersdal has been the leader of the project.
Gerd Ersdal is a physician with speciality in community health and has been the Medical County Officer of Troms County, Norway, for the last 8 years. To carry out this project she has had a leave of absence from her work as Medical County Officer.
The report describes the legislation, supervisory issues, and the reimbursement systems that the members in the EEA area (EU and EFTA) and Switzerland have adopted regulating complementary and alternative therapies.
Tromsø 28.10.2005
Gerd Ersdal
MD/Prosjektleader
NAFKAM University in Tromsø
9037 Tromsø, Norway
