S.I. No. 198/2009 - Social Welfare (Reduction of Payments To Health Professionals) Regulations 2009

S.I. No. 198 of 2009

SOCIAL WELFARE (REDUCTION OF PAYMENTS TO HEALTH PROFESSIONALS) REGULATIONS 2009

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 29th May, 2009.

I, MARY HANAFIN, Minister for Social and Family Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 10 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 (No. 5 of 2009), having complied with subsections (4) and (5) of that section, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Reduction of Payments to Health Professionals) Regulations 2009.

2. These Regulations shall apply to payments in respect of services rendered by a registered dentist, dispensing optician, ophthalmologist, optometrist or audiologist, to or on behalf of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to persons who claim treatment benefit under section 138 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (No. 26 of 2005).

3. The payments that shall be made in respect of the services referred to in Regulation 2 from the date of the making of these Regulations shall be—

(a) in the case of registered dentists, those specified in Table 1 below,

(b) in the case of dispensing opticians, ophthalmologists and optometrists, those specified in Table 2 below, and

(c) in the case of medical appliances supplied by audiologists or medically prescribed contact lenses supplied by dispensing opticians, optometrists or ophthalmologists, those specified in Table 3 below.

4. Nothing in these Regulations affects the payments to be made by claimants, within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations 2007 ( S.I. No. 142 of 2007 ) in respect of the services referred to in Regulation 2.

TABLE 1
Dental Benefit	Amount
Oral examination (A1)	€33.00
Scale and polish	€31.00
Gum treatment	€30.00
Simple/compound amalgam fillings	€33.50
Composite filling on anterior teeth	€34.75
Restoration of incisal angle or tip	€30.10
Pin retained filling	€30.10
Extraction of a tooth under local anaesthetic	€26.00
Surgical extractions
Per 15 minutes	€24.50
Max 45 minutes	€73.50
Root canal therapy	€80.50
Apicectomy/amputation of roots	€80.50
Radiographs (one film)	€17.30
Radiographs (2 or more films)	€26.10
Radiographs (panoramic)	€28.95
Miscellaneous treatment (per item) (biopsy, haemorrhage, pulpotomy, dry socket, abscess, dressing, pericoronitis)	€14.00
White filling on a back tooth	€33.50
Glass ionomers	€33.50
Crown	€34.75
Porcelain jacket crown	€34.75

TABLE 2
Optical Benefit
Eye Examinations	Amount
Eye examination (optometrist)	€22.51
Eye examination with dilation (optometrist)	€45.02
Eye examination (ophthalmologist)	€25.55
Full medical eye examination (ophthalmologist)	€51.10
Single Vision Complete Appliances	Amount
Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled spectacles — distance/reading	€42.07
Contact lenses — per pair	€42.07
Contact lens (one lens)	€21.03
Complete Frames to Patients Own Lenses	Amount
Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled	€12.17
Single Vision Lenses to Patients Own Frame	Amount
Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled distance/reading (one lens)	€16.35
Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled distance/reading (2 lenses)	€32.70
Complete Bifocal Appliances	Amount
Bifocal Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled spectacles	€83.71
Bifocal Lenses to Patients Own Frame	Amount
Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled (one lens)	€37.20
Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled (2 lenses)	€74.40
Uncollected Items	Amount
Class 1, Class 2 and Non-scheduled (all types)	€29.32
Extras where the frames supplied are Class 1 or Class 2 (single vision)	Amount
Lenticular lenses per surface	€11.64
Tinted lenses per pair	€14.87
Prisms each	€6.30
Extras where the frames supplied are Class 1 or Class 2 (bifocals)	Amount
Tints per pair	€16.41
Prisms each	€8.76

TABLE 3
Medical Appliance Benefit	Amount
Supply of or repairs to one hearing aid	50% of cost to maximum of €760.00
Supply of or repairs to 2 hearing aids for one patient	50% of cost to maximum of €1,520.00
Supply of medically prescribed contact lens (one lens) by a dispensing optician, optometrist or ophthalmologist	50% of cost to maximum of €760.00
Supply of medically prescribed contact lenses (2 lenses) by a dispensing optician, optometrist or ophthalmologist	50% of cost to maximum of €1,520.00

The Minister for Finance consents to the foregoing Regulations.

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GIVEN under my Official Seal,

25 May 2009

BRIAN LENIHAN,

Minister for Finance.

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GIVEN under my Official Seal,

25 May 2009

MARY HANAFIN,

Minister for Social and Family Affairs.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 requires the Minister to fix the rates of payment to be made to certain healthprofessionals for services that they provide for the Department.Following a consultative process these regulations set out the revised fees payable by the Department to those health professionals in respect of services as indicated in the Tables.These regulations do not affect the payments that claimants may also be required to make in respect of certain services.