Icelandic Ministry of Health restructures medical imaging services amid ESA investigation

The Icelandic Ministry of Health is currently working on the restructuring of medical imaging services, as EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) has initiated a formal investigation into whether existing agreements with Iceland’s Health Insurance could violate EEA state aid regulations. This inquiry seems to be related to the company Intuens, which faced backlash last year for offering free health scans and MRI services.

Medical professionals criticized Intuens, raising concerns that such services could provide false reassurance to patients and increase the burden on the healthcare system. The argument also emerged that these health scans are unnecessary and costly. The technology used could detect various changes in individuals, often leading to additional medical interventions that are typically unwarranted.

In response, the Ministry of Health restricted the operations of Intuens, although this decision was met with some controversy. To address these ongoing issues, the Ministry has been reviewing the situation for some time and recently established a task force to perform an analysis and propose future strategies for medical imaging services.

Following this report and further processing of the proposals, the Minister of Health instructed Iceland’s Health Insurance in August of last year to put this service out to tender. Preparation for this tender is now largely complete, and the aim is to advertise the tender for these services shortly.