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As international health services researchers, we read the paper by Beuken et al 1 with great interest. However, in our opinion the authors are too optimistic about the actual volume of current cross-border healthcare. The study also fails to address the role of healthcare professionals to support patients in their cross-border experience, and ultimately, proposes far too modest directions for action. Consequently, it misses the opportunity to go the ‘extra mile’ needed for this important topic.
In our opinion, the authors are idealistic in writing that a relatively large number of Europeans are receiving cross-border healthcare. This lacks important nuances. Five years after the adoption of Directive 2011/24/EU on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare, still, less than 0.05% of European Union (EU) citizens receive healthcare treatments …