S.I. No. 608/2015 - Health Insurance Act 1994 (Information Returns) (Amendment) Regulations 2015.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Health Insurance Act 1994 (Information Returns) (Amendment) Regulations 2015.

(2) These Regulations come into operation on 1 March 2016.

2. In these Regulations “Principal Regulations” means the

Health Insurance Act 1994

(Information Returns) Regulations 2009 (

S.I. No. 294 of 2009

).

3. Regulation 2 (1) of the Principal Regulations is amended—

(

a

) in paragraph (

b

) of the definition of “day-patient day”, by the deletion of “in a hospital bed”,

(

b

) in the definition of “in-patient stay (publicly-funded hospital)”, by the deletion of “in a hospital bed” in each place where it occurs,

(

c

) in the definition of “private hospital accommodation”, by the substitution of “where a charge is payable under

section 55

of the

Health Act 1970

;” for “in a bed which is designated, pursuant to Article (8)(i) of the Health Services (In-Patient) Regulations 1991 (

S.I. No. 135 of 1991

), as a designated private bed;”.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

21 December 2015.

LEO VARADKAR,

Minister for Health.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

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

This statutory instrument sets out changes in the information returns specified in Section 7D of the Health Insurance Acts. The amendments arise as a consequence of amendments to primary legislation whereby from 1 March 2016 a risk equalisation credit is payable for day case admissions to hospital.

The purpose of the Information Returns is to enable the Health Insurance Authority to report to the Minister as set out in Section 7E of the Acts and in particular to make its recommendations to the Minister on any changes in the risk equalisation credit and corresponding stamp duty levels to fund the credits.

The definition of “day patient day”, the definition of “in-patient stay (publicly-funded hospital) and the definition of private hospital accommodation are amended.

These Regulations come into operation on 1 March 2016.

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of

5

th January

, 2016.

I, LEO VARADKAR, Minister for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by

sections 3

and 7D of the

Health Insurance Act 1994

(No. 16. of 1994), hereby make the following regulations