How to change your family doctor: documents, request, steps

You can freely change your family doctor 6 months after enrolling on your current list. If you have a valid reason — you’ve moved, the doctor has retired or terminated their contract with the Casa de Asigurări de Sănătate (CAS, the health insurance house) — you can do it sooner too. In practice, the procedure is simple: you go to the doctor you want, sign an enrolment request, and the transfer of your medical file is handled between the practices, without you having to carry the file around.

How enrolling on a family doctor’s list works

In the Romanian public system you are assigned to a family doctor by signing an enrolment request for their list. You are not tied to that practice for life: the relationship can change at any time, as long as you follow the rules below.

A few principles to keep in mind:

• You are free to choose any family doctor who has room available on their list and a contract with CAS.
• Your registered home address doesn’t matter — you can enrol at a practice in another neighbourhood or even in another town, if the doctor accepts you.
• Only one family doctor at a time. A new enrolment automatically cancels the previous one.

The 6-month rule and the exceptions

The general rule: you change doctor freely 6 months after your last enrolment. This period exists to prevent chaotic migrations between lists every month.

You can change sooner than 6 months if you have a valid reason, for example:

• you’ve changed your home address or residence to another area;
• the family doctor retires, ceases their activity, or terminates their contract with CAS;
• the practice closes, or the doctor refuses, with justification, to continue the relationship.

The deadlines (6 months, and 15 working days for the file transfer) are set by the methodological rules for applying the framework contract — see Ordinul CNAS/MS nr. 2861/789/2022 (CNAS/Ministry of Health Order no. 2861/789/2022). Because these rules are updated periodically through addenda, check the exact deadlines on casan.ro (Casa de Asigurări de Sănătate Cluj, the Cluj Health Insurance House) or on cnas.ro before you file the request.

The concrete steps, in order

1. Choose the new doctor. You can search by specialty and locality; see the list of family doctors in Cluj or search directly by name.
2. Go to the practice with the necessary documents (below) and sign the enrolment request. From this moment you are on the new list.
3. The new doctor requests your medical file from the previous practice. You don’t have to request it in person.
4. The old practice transfers the file within at most 15 working days of the request.
5. Done. From now on you make appointments, prescriptions, and referrals with the new doctor.

You are not obliged to inform your old doctor or justify your departure. The transfer is an administrative procedure between the practices.

What documents you need

For enrolment (including when changing doctors):

• an ID document (identity card);
• proof of insured status — a certificate from your employer, an insured-status certificate, or the national health card;
• the enrolment/transfer request — you fill it in at the practice.

For children:

• the parent’s request or that of the legal representative;
• the birth certificate (for those without an identity card) or the child’s ID document;
• the parent’s ID document.

Newborns are usually enrolled on the mother’s family doctor’s list, with the parents able to opt later for another practice.

How much it costs and who pays

Nothing. Enrolling, transferring the file, and changing doctor are free for the insured person. The family doctor is paid by CAS through the “per capita” system (based on the number of patients on the list) and per service, not by you.

Note: for services to be covered (consultations, referrals, subsidised prescriptions) you need up-to-date insured status. You can check it on the CNAS platform. If you are not insured, you can still enrol on a list, but some services might be paid until you sort out your situation (usually by paying the contribution to ANAF, the tax authority).

Special situations

• You’ve moved to another city. You don’t have to wait 6 months: a move is a valid reason. Enrol at a practice in the new locality.
• Your doctor has left the system. If the doctor retires or loses their contract with CAS, you have the right to re-enrol immediately with another.
• You can’t find room. Some practices have full lists. Call ahead or ask at reception whether they are still taking patients.
• You just want a second opinion. For that you do not need to change your family doctor — you can ask for a referral to a specialist.

In brief

You have control over choosing your family doctor: freely after 6 months, sooner with a valid reason, with minimal documents and at no cost. The only thing you need to do is go to the practice you want and sign the request — the rest happens behind the scenes, within a maximum of 15 working days.

Sources

• Ordinul CNAS/MS nr. 2861/789/2022 (CNAS/Ministry of Health Order no. 2861/789/2022) — the methodological rules for applying the framework contract on the conditions for providing medical care in the social health insurance system (primary care).
• Legea nr. 95/2006 on healthcare reform.
• Casa de Asigurări de Sănătate Cluj (Cluj Health Insurance House) — casan.ro; CNAS — cnas.ro (check the deadlines and the list of documents, which can change through addenda to the framework contract).