In light of World Heart Day on 29 September, CERN's Medical Service is organising a Cardiovascular Health Campaign on 26-28 September 2023 in collaboration with the CERN Fire & Rescue Service, CERN Clubs, HUG, NOVAE, and Save a life.
The objective of this interactive campaign is to raise awareness of CVDs among the CERN community and provide information and tools to prevent them. The campaign will address several themes, including diet, physical activity, stress management, life-saving gestures and will also provide quick evaluation for you to get to know your heart health and risk factors better.

It will mainly take place at Restaurant 2, but please note that some activities will be held on the lawn of Restaurant 1, and conferences will take place in the IT amphitheatre (31/3-004).

You will find all the activities and timetable here !

1 December 2023

Please note that the UNIQA office at CERN (Main Building) will be closed during the two-week end-of-year closure.

During that period, UNIQA's offices in Geneva will remain open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be closed on Monday, 25 December 2023 and on Monday, 1 January 2024. During open periods you can also reach UNIQA by telephone on +41 22 718 63 00.

For urgent medical assistance, you may call UNIQA Assistance +41 22 819 44 77, 24h/day throughout this period. Please note that this service only provides medical advice and urgent assistance services and is not in a position to inform you on the coverage by CHIS of medical expenses.

1 May 2023

Please note that the UNIQA office at CERN (Main Building) and in Geneva will be exceptionally closed on Monday 1 May 2023. During that period, you cannot reach UNIQA by telephone.

For urgent medical assistance, you may call UNIQA Assistance +41 22 819 44 77, 24h/day throughout this period. Please note that this service only provides medical advice and urgent assistance services and is not in a position to inform you on the coverage by CHIS of medical expenses.

The UNIQA offices at CERN and in Geneva will welcome you back to the usual schedule from Tuesday 2 May 2023.

For Reimbursement of COVID-19 Tests as of 11 January 2022

November 2022

All CHIS members have the right to be reimbursed for certain alternative therapies under specific conditions.

These alternative therapies are acupuncture, Chinese medicine, chiropractic medicine, osteopathy and etiopathy.

You may consult acupuncturists, doctors practising Chinese medicine and chiropractors, provided that they are recognised, qualified doctors licensed to practise medicine by the competent national authority of the country in which they operate. 

To find out whether your practitioner is recognised in Switzerland, you can consult the register of Swiss doctors on the FMH website: doctorfmh.ch, which is the only official such register.

For France, the official register is the one maintained by the Ministry for Solidarity and Health: annuaire.sante.fr, which lists both doctors and medical auxiliaries.

Osteopathy and etiopathy are also recognised as alternative therapies, but there are two possible scenarios:

• Your osteopath or etiopath is a recognised, qualified doctor licensed to practise medicine by the competent national authority of the country in which he or she operates: you may attend a consultation without a medical prescription. 
• Your osteopath or etiopath is not a doctor, but holds a diploma as a recognised, qualified osteopath or etiopath licensed to practise the discipline: you may attend a maximum of five sessions per calendar year without a medical prescription. However, from the 6th session onwards, a medical prescription is necessary to be reimbursed. 

If in doubt, we recommend that you contact UNIQA before undergoing any treatment to obtain information on the conditions of coverage.

October 2022

Auxiliary medical care encompasses a vast range of services, and the rules governing how it is covered frequently give rise to questions from members. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the medical auxiliaries most frequently covered by the CHIS, for most members, provided that you have a medical prescription.

• Nurse
• Physiotherapist / osteopath
• Occupational therapist
• Midwife
• Speech–language therapist
• Dietician
• Orthoptist
• Psychologist
• Podiatrist / medical pedicure (subject to certain conditions and prior approval)

Whenever long-term treatment is concerned, the UNIQA manager is authorised to examine the effectiveness of the care, drawing on the expertise of UNIQA's advising doctors. In certain situations, members may request authorisation to exceptionally exceed the ceiling for medical auxiliary expenses, which is set at CHF 3 300 per year. (Voluntary members with reduced or short-term cover are not entitled to reimbursements for auxiliary medical care).

Physiotherapist / nurse / occupational therapist / speech–language therapist / orthoptist
These providers must hold a recognised national qualification and be certified by the relevant national body in the country in which they practise. Provided that it has been prescribed by a doctor, such treatment is covered by the CHIS in any country, subject to similar conditions as those applied to treatment administered in France and Switzerland.

Osteopath
Sessions with an osteopath are covered by the CHIS if the provider is certified in the country in which they practise:

• In Switzerland, this means being on the National Register of Healthcare Professions, NAREG.
• In France, this means being registered with the regional health department (ARS) and having a number issued by the national social security system’s ADELI directory.

Psychologist
Sessions with a psychologist are covered by the CHIS if they have been prescribed by your doctor and if the provider is certified in the country in which they

September 2022

In the autumns of 2020 and 2021, the CHIS team, with the support of the CERN Medical Service, organised seasonal flu vaccination campaigns for CHIS members. These campaigns took place against the unprecedented backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and a shortage of flu vaccines, with the aim of ensuring that retired CHIS members and family members over the age of 18, who are not registered in the national healthcare systems, had access to protection against the flu virus.

As access to seasonal flu vaccines is no longer a problem, the CHIS will not run such a campaign in 2022. Instead, retirees and family members can be vaccinated against the flu at pharmacies and doctor’s surgeries. 

In France and Switzerland, the flu vaccination period generally starts in mid-October and runs until the beginning of the flu wave. 

For information, Friday, 25 November 2022 is national flu vaccination day in Switzerland, when anyone interested can be vaccinated on the spot, without an appointment, at one of the participating doctor’s surgeries or pharmacies. 

Information about the 2022–2023 flu vaccination campaign in France can be found on the website of the Ministry of Health and Prevention.