Slovenia
Summary (ref 1)
In Slovenia treatment is restricted to legally regulated personnel. CAM is not regulated.
Professionals and non-professionals
Legally regulated personnel
According to Law of Health Services (1992), "health service may be performed with permission of the Ministry of Health by physical persons, if they fulfil the conditions defined by this law". The health personnel are licensed to practise health service. The Law of Health Care and Health Insurance (1991) defines health service as "the activities, measures and services for reinforcing health, preventing illness, early detection, timely treatment, nursing and rehabilitation of the sick and injured". The practise of health service without a permit is an offence. In Article 45 it is stated "Health workers and health associates shall perform health services in accordance within the code of medical deontology or within other professional and ethical codes". And further Article 58 states "Health workers may use only approved and professionally acceptable supplementary traditional and alternative forms of diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation which are not harmful to the public health and which are approved by the Ministry of Health with the consent of the Medical Ethics Commission".
An forthcoming regulation (based on Article 59 of the Law of Health Service), which will define the forms of alternative diagnostics, treatment, rehabilitation and prophylaxis that are legally permitted and the conditions for performing such services as well as the licensing procedure, has not been adopted yet. By this lack of regulation, CAM therapy is not allowed in official medical service.
The official standpoint held by the Ethical Commission of the Ministry of Health is that doctors are asked to revoke their medical licenses when they desire to practise treatment that is not part of the official doctrine of medicine.
However, some physicians are offering acupuncture as a complementary treatment of pain. The Slovenian Associations of Acupuncture only issue licenses to member physicians. The authorities do not punish this kind of treatment.
Supervision of regulated personnel
According to the Law of Health Service, supervision of professional health workers is to be executed by competent professional chambers organised by medical federations. During the last years, known to the Ministry of Health, only one physician has lost the license because of practising CAM therapy.
Not anybody may treat
Providing CAM therapies is legal when referred to as counselling service and not health service. An estimated 1200 CAM providers are practising in Slovenia. CAM providers mostly register as consulting services for healthy life-style. Business owners of registrant CAM activities are obligatory members of Slovene Chamber of Commerce (SCC), with about 150 members at present (May 2005). There are no conditions set by the SCC and there is no professional supervision of the activities. The federation of providers is developing a training program and introducing self-regulation for its members, with the intension of safeguarding the users of their services. Consumers may complain to the federation and SCC. Currently the penal code is the only form of legal protection of consumers.
The Ministry of Health is proposing the regulation of CAM providers. The purpose of the law will be to safeguard and to emphasize that CAM is to be offered only as an additional therapy to medical treatment.
Reimbursement
There are both public and private reimbursements in Slovenia. Reimbursements are covered by what law defines as health services. CAM is not reimbursed.
References
1. Referee where nothing else is stated: Slovenian Ministry of Health, meeting in Ljubljana 04.05.05.
