5. Without prejudice to points (a) to (c) of paragraph 6, the Member State of affiliation may not refuse to grant prior authorisation when the patient is entitled to the healthcare in question in accordance with Article 7, and when this healthcare cannot be provided on its territory within a time limit which is medically justifiable, based on an objective medical assessment of the patient’s medical condition, the history and probable course of the patient’s illness, the degree of the patient’s pain and/or the ...[+++]nature of the patient’s disability at the time when the request for authorisation was made or renewed.

In practical terms, eHealth can minimise the risk of medical errors and help the early detection of health problems. Home telemonitoring of heart patients can improve survival rates by 15%, reduce hospital days by 26% and save 10% in nursing costs – vitally important in tough economic times. ePrescriptions can reduce errors in drugs dosage by 15%. eHealth will be critical to keep health care affordable and accessible to all in the ageing societies of Europe.

The basic regulation also deals with aspects of access to benefits in kind for healthcare for people staying in another Member State – for example on holiday – or for whom scheduled treatment becomes necessary on medical grounds, not simply from choice.

- care insurance benefits in kind partly consist of the direct payment or reimbursement of expenses incurred as a result of the insured person's reliance on care, in particular medical expenses entailed by that condition. Such benefits in kind, which are designed to cover care received by the person concerned (both in the home and in specialised centres), purchases of equipment and work carried out, fall within the concept of "benefits in kind" within the meaning of the relevant Articles of Chapter 1 of Title III of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71,

(a) care insurance benefits in kind giving entitlement to full or partial direct payment of certain expenditure entailed by the insured person's reliance on care and incurred for his or her direct benefit, for example nursing care and home help provided in the home or in specialised establishments, purchases of care equipment, or work carried out to improve the home environment; benefits of this kind are essentially intended to supplement sickness insurance benefits in kind in order to improve the state of health and the quality of life of persons reliant on care;

Long-term care provided in a nursing home is basically non-medical care, apart from the nursing care that is ordered by a doctor.