I have a very serious condition in both arms that may end up in long term pain. My current specialist speaks very little english. I need a referral to another hospital like st lukes that may have english support but i’m confused about the possibility of visiting múltiple practitioners at the same time for the same problem.
Currently doing rehabilitatión at TSOC.
Confused about NHI converge of this and this and all the bureacracy of referral letters is deterring me from visiting múltiple practitioners to get a better diagnosis. Now i realize my health is much more importante than bureoucracy but i’m feeling overwhelmed at the moment with this and other stuff going on in my life
2 comments
Ask for a referral letter from your current doctor. Google translate or whatever to make the request. It’ll be clear you need a doctor with whom you can communicate.
Take it to a specialist who speaks better English. NHI covers what it covers regardless (unless you go to a foreign focused doctor who doesn’t take NHI) so you’ll pay typically 30% with various caps and caveats depending. No particular reason to have to go to multiple specialists unless the condition requires it, in which case, go see more doctors.
1. Find out from the internet which hospital you want to be referred to
2. Ask your current doctor for 紹介状 (shoukaijou / referral letter) to the hospital number 1.
3. NHI actually doesn’t care even if you go to a second hospital without a referral letter, yes you will have to pay some selective treatment fee because you didn’t go through a referral route from a smaller health facility.
(I think St Luke’s fee is about 8000 yen, while other hospital may differ)
The cost of treatment will be the same, i.e., 30% copay.
4. What I think could cost a lot if you mistakenly ask for “second opinion” in the same hospital. This is not what you want as this can cost a lot.
5. People in Japan move houses even during chronic long-term diseases, so people getting referral letters and changing hospitals is not as rare as you may think.