According to the Ministry of Health, Circular No. 26 dated June 30, 2025 of the Ministry regulating prescriptions and prescriptions for pharmaceutical and biological drugs in outpatient treatment at medical examination and treatment facilities, effective from July 1, 2025, has stipulated many new points suitable to the development of information technology application in medical examination and treatment management and clinical pharmaceutical work as well as creating convenience for patients.
However, after 6 months of implementation, the Ministry of Health has received some feedback and recommendations from patients and their families about not being provided with outpatient drugs for more than 30 days, although the condition has stabilized and has been monitored and treated for a long time.
To avoid the above-mentioned obstacles, limit cumbersome procedures for patients who have been treated stably, and ensure the synchronous and unified implementation nationwide on prescribing long-term outpatient drugs for patients, especially health insurance (HI) patients, the Ministry of Health requests the Directors of Departments of Health, Directors of medical examination and treatment facilities (MET) to immediately implement some contents based on the provisions of Circular No. 26, and legal regulations on MET and HI.
The Department of Health directs medical examination and treatment facilities in the area to continue to carefully study and thoroughly implement the provisions at point b, Clause 8, Article 6 of Circular No. 26 to ensure that outpatient prescriptions can last up to 90 days in accordance with the disease status according to the list of diseases specified in Appendix VII issued with Circular 26, without distinguishing between patients with health insurance cards and patients without health insurance cards, creating the most favorable conditions for patients, limiting unnecessary procedures, and strengthening procedure reform.
At the same time, review and strengthen the management of chronic diseases and prescriptions in chronic disease treatment; rectify the appointment of examination, implementation of paraclinical services, prescriptions, and appointment of unreasonable medical equipment; strengthen the management and effective and economical use of the HI Fund.
For medical examination and treatment facilities, the Ministry of Health requests to strengthen comprehensive training for medical staff on procedures and processes for medical examination and treatment, patients' rights, health insurance benefits, including contents on the List of diseases and groups of diseases applied for outpatient prescriptions over 30 days as prescribed and fully implement the instructions.
Provide specific and complete guidance on the use of drugs, and re-examine when there are abnormalities. The medical examination and treatment facility is responsible for not providing guidance or incomplete guidance that causes trouble and affects the rights and safety of patients.
For cases where patients meet professional requirements and regulations, it is proposed to provide medicine in the maximum appropriate quantity so that patients can feel secure in treatment, without having to carry out procedures to receive medicine during long holidays and Tet, especially during the Lunar New Year and Lunar New Year of Binh Ngo 2026, guiding patients to self-monitor their health and go to medical examination and treatment facilities if there are any abnormalities.
The Ministry of Health also requested social insurance agencies to closely coordinate with medical examination and treatment facilities in the implementation process.
The Ministry of Health requests agencies and units to strictly implement and ensure the rights of patients and health insurance participants.
The prescriber decides the number of days of use for each drug in the prescription based on the clinical condition and patient's stability to prescribe the drug with the number of days of use for each drug not exceeding 90 days.
