Croatia
HR
Healthcare System
Croatia operates a mandatory health insurance system through the HZZO (Hrvatski zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje — Croatian Health Insurance Fund). All employed and self-employed individuals, as well as pensioners, pay mandatory health insurance contributions. The HZZO contracts public and some private providers. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 and adopted the euro in 2023. Medical tourism is growing, particularly for dental and cosmetic procedures.
- System Type
- Mandatory social health insurance (Bismarck model), EU member state
- Regulatory Body
- HALMED (Hrvatska agencija za lijekove i medicinske proizvode — Croatian Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices). Ministry of Health (Ministarstvo zdravstva) — health policy and public health. EMA for centralized EU drug approvals.
- Data Protection
- GDPR (EU) + Croatian Personal Data Protection Act (Zakon o zaštiti osobnih podataka); AZOP (Agencija za zaštitu osobnih podataka)
- Currency
- EUR
- Emergency Number
- 112, 194 (ambulance)
- Languages
- hr
Coding Systems
diagnosis
MKB-10 (ICD-10 WHO Croatian translation)
ICD-10 WHO standard, known in Croatia as MKB-10 (Međunarodna klasifikacija bolesti i srodnih zdravstvenih problema, 10. revizija). Used for HZZO billing and hospital reporting. Identical codes to WHO ICD-10.
dental
FDI (ISO 3950)
FDI two-digit notation standard in all clinical settings. Croatia has no separate dental coding system.
procedures
DRG-HR
Diagnosis-Related Group system for hospital payment by HZZO. DRG-HR groups similar patients for hospital reimbursement. ICD-10 diagnoses and procedure codes used as input.
drugs
HALMED registration number / EAN
Drugs authorized by HALMED (Croatian Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices) receive a registration number. EAN (barcode) used for pharmacy dispensing. HZZO reimbursement list (popis lijekova) published by HZZO.
Translation Corridors
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