As of April 1, patients will need to show an identity document in order to be admitted to hospital in Bulgaria.

As of April 1, hospitalizations and de-hospitalizations of all medically insured patients will be entered into a single registration system, according to information of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), as cited by dnevnik.bg.

Hospitals will not receive reimbursement by the NHIF for medical services for patients who are not included in the registration system.

In order to be admitted to hospital, patients will need to show one of the following documents: ID card, temporary certificate issued by the Interior Minister in the case of a loss of ID card, service passport, residence permit issued to EU nationals, permanent residence card for foreign nationals, old-model passport (green passport).

Babies and children of up to 14 years of age will be admitted to hospital on the basis of an ID document of a guardian or a person who is accompanying them and the information will be manually entered into the registration system.

The new system will allow simultaneous submission of hospitalization and de-hospitalization data to the hospital and the NHIF database.

According to the NHIF, the registration process will last seconds, at the same time allowing greater control over the spending of NHIF resources.

The NHIF, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio, reminds that the new system was approved at the end of 2014, with hospitals being granted a 3-month grace period to introduce it.

However, the NHIF informed in early March 2015 that less than half of the hospitals in Bulgaria had introduced the new registration system.