In brief

  • The National Health Insurance House is placed under a legal duty to build, from the second half of 2026, the „e-SănătateaMea” portal, whose name means „My Health”, through which patients can see their own medical data.
  • Inside the portal there is an electronic appointment system that every healthcare provider is required to use from the fourth quarter of 2026.
  • Until that deadline a pilot project is being run. Those concerned are all insured persons, family doctors, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and suppliers of medical devices.
Act: Law no. 157/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 588 of 20 July 2026
In force from: 23 July 2026

Booking a doctor by telephone, at fixed hours and with a bit of luck, is about to be replaced by a single portal where every insured person books their own appointment and consults their own medical file. Law no. 157/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 588 of 20 July 2026, supplements Article 280 of Law no. 95/2006 on healthcare reform with four new paragraphs and gives the project a deadline written into the statute itself. The portal is added to what the National Health Insurance House already runs, from the lists of reimbursed medical supplies to the record of services claimed.

The law has a single article. It inserts paragraphs (21) to (24) and addresses them in their entirety to the National Health Insurance House, which becomes responsible for developing, administering and making the portal available.

The name chosen by the legislature is „e-SănătateaMea”, and the portal is not a separate system but a feature of the Health Insurance IT Platform, the infrastructure that already carries the health card, the electronic prescription and the electronic health record.

What it changes in practice

The first effect is a deadline. Paragraph (21) states that, starting with the second half of 2026, the National Health Insurance House develops, administers and makes the portal available to insured persons. The second half began on 1 July 2026, so the obligation is already live on the date the law enters into force.

The second effect concerns what the portal contains. Paragraph (22) sets out three functions: secure patient access to personal medical information, electronic services for interacting with providers of medical services, of medicines and of medical devices, and access to digital information and services intended for monitoring one’s state of health.

The wording is broad, but the direction is clear. Patients no longer depend on the surgery to find out what has been reported in their name, which prescriptions have been issued to them or which services have been reimbursed for them.

The third effect is the most concrete one. Paragraph (23) provides that an electronic portal for booking patient appointments operates within the portal, and that all providers are required to use it starting with the fourth quarter of 2026, that is from 1 October 2026. The word „all” leaves no room for interpretation: it takes in family doctors, specialist outpatient clinics, hospitals, laboratories and the other categories of provider under contract with the health insurance houses.

The fourth effect is the intermediate stage. Paragraph (24) provides that, until the deadline above, a pilot project is run to make the appointment portal operational. This is the only safety valve in the text: the law accepts that the system is to be tested on a sample before becoming mandatory for everyone.

The fifth effect is institutional. By placing the portal in Article 280, which governs the Health Insurance IT Platform, the law ties it to an existing system with rules already settled on data and access. No new database is created, only a patient-facing interface on top of one that already exists.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Until now, patients reached their own data in the insurance system through the electronic health record and through the section for checking reported services, both of them working but scattered and little known. There was no legal duty to build a single point of access for the insured person.

The major change, however, concerns appointments. Until this law, each provider organised bookings as it saw fit: by telephone, in a paper register, through its own application or on a commercial platform. From the fourth quarter of 2026, using the electronic appointment portal becomes mandatory for all providers.

The second change is one of responsibility. The text names the National Health Insurance House expressly as developer and administrator. Not the Ministry of Health, not the Special Telecommunications Service, not an outside operator. Whoever falls behind answers for it.

What does not change is the data protection framework. The portal remains a feature of the Health Insurance IT Platform, so it is subject to the general rules on the processing of health data, a special category of personal data.

Nor does the way contracts are concluded change. The law does not tie use of the portal to the framework contract and lays down no express penalty for a provider that fails to use it after 1 October 2026.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • Patients gain a single point of access to their own medical information, instead of several separate portals.
  • Electronic booking made mandatory for all providers can put an end to queues on the telephone and to lost appointments.
  • A single appointment system makes real waiting times by specialty visible at national level for the first time.
  • The deadlines are written into the law, not into a strategy, so they can be tracked publicly.
  • The pilot project reduces the risk of a forced start, with the system out of order across the whole country at once.

What remains a problem

  • The law lays down no penalty for a provider that fails to use the portal after 1 October 2026, so the obligation carries no written consequence.
  • No budget is allocated and no source of funding is mentioned for developing the portal.
  • Small practices, especially in rural areas, may struggle with connectivity and with the staff needed to handle online bookings.
  • For elderly patients or those without internet access, the text provides no express alternative way of booking.
  • The fourth quarter of 2026 deadline leaves very little time between the pilot and the general obligation.
  • It is not stated who is responsible for technical support for providers and for patients during the transition period.

Practical advice

  1. If you are a patient, check in good time that you have the means of authentication you will need. Access to personal medical data is secured, so it will call for electronic identification.
  2. Ask your family doctor to confirm what data has been reported in your name. Until the portal starts, that check is still made through the health insurance house.
  3. If you are a healthcare provider, do not wait for October. The duty to use the system starts with the fourth quarter of 2026, and integrating appointments takes time.
  4. Check whether the booking application you already use can communicate with the Health Insurance IT Platform. The law does not prohibit in-house solutions, but it does require the portal to be used.
  5. Small practices would do well to appoint someone responsible for electronic bookings, otherwise the task falls to the nurse during consultations.
  6. Follow the announcements about the pilot project. Taking part in the pilot is the cheapest way of finding the problems before the system becomes mandatory.
  7. As a patient, keep proof of your appointment. Until the system settles down, a saved confirmation is useful to you if anything fails to match.

Frequently asked questions

What is „e-SănătateaMea”?
A portal that the National Health Insurance House has to develop and make available to insured persons, as a feature of the Health Insurance IT Platform. Through it, patients gain secure access to personal medical information and to electronic services.
From when does it work?
The law provides that the duty of the National Health Insurance House starts with the second half of 2026. The appointment portal becomes mandatory for providers from the fourth quarter of the same year.
Will all doctors be required to use online booking?
Yes. The text states that all providers are required to use the electronic portal for booking patient appointments starting with the fourth quarter of 2026.
What happens if a provider does not use it?
The law lays down no express penalty. Consequences could come through the framework contract or through implementing legislation, but this text does not set them out.
What data will I see in the portal?
Personal medical information, electronic services for interacting with providers of medical services, of medicines and of medical devices, as well as digital information and services for monitoring your state of health.
Is it a new system, separate from the existing one?
No. The law defines it as a feature of the Health Insurance IT Platform, that is of the system which already carries the health card and the electronic prescription.
What is the pilot project?
A stage in making the appointment portal operational, run up to the deadline from which its use becomes mandatory for all providers.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 588 of 20 July 2026 16 pages PDF, 110 KB the act starts on page 12

Open the official PDFDownload the PDF

The viewer is not shown on small screens. Use the buttons above to open or download the file.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.