How to make a general health or dental appointment at a Costa Rica EBAIS health clinic

In Costa Rica, 'EBAIS' health clinics allow health care services to be decentralized throughout the country. Once you contribute to the CCSS, ie Costa Rica's social security system, you can use the health care services at your local EBAIS. Most locals register through employment. However, foreigners have the option of enrolling for "seguros voluntarios", ie 'voluntary social security', even if their naturalization or residency processes are only midway. For most specialist concerns (blood work, physical care, eye specialists, dental specialists and psychologist needs), their system involves a preliminary visit with a general practitioner (GP) who can then refer patients to specialists. The exception regarding specialist areas is dental care services. As mentioned otherwise, the GP can refer you. However, you can go directly to dentistry called "odonología". Another noteworthy exception is that, while the GP's referral can automatically send you to a psychologist, you can not immediately get transferred to psychiatrists. For referrals to psychiatrists, preliminary pharmaceutical drug treatments need to have failed afer use for 2 months. Keep in mind that, the GP's referrals to the next step can involve lengthy waits, perhaps in part because your next step involves going to the hospital, a step that essentially bottlenecks the otherwise more free flowing, decentralized system. For instance, a GP's referral for lab work can result in an appointment date 3 months afterwards; Your mamogram appointment may be 9 months away and so on.
 
In order to make the preliminary GP appointment, you must first get an appointment in one of the 2 following ways.

1) physically get a preliminary walk-in visit with the GP or dental professional at the EBAIS office
For GP appointments, go any time between 0700hr and 1500hr from Monday to Friday.
Join the line for the receptionist to announce your presence and intentions. (BEWARE , do not confuse this line for that of the pharmacy. EBAIS offices are small and easily lead to this potential problem.) Provide your CCSS number. (When someone does not have an appointment, the receptionist adds your name to a list of attendees awaiting the space of a no-show).
At 15 minutes after each hour until the EBAIS closes at 10pm like 0815, 0915, 1015, etc, wait near to the receptionist's station to see if she calls your name. This may happen if an opening occurs.
If the attending doctor agrees to refer you to a specialist, return to the receptionist so that she can assign the appointment date. (You will have 2 types of record of your upcoming appointment: a paper document that she gives you and; in the 'citas' sention of the mobile app.
For dental / 'Odontología' appointments, preliminary visits are done on Wednesdays at anytime between 0700 to 1500. Double check that your EBAIS has the same schedule as what I have found to be standard.
Join the line for the receptionist to announce your presence and intentions. Provide your CCSS number. (When someone does not have an appointment, the receptionist adds your name to a list of attendees awaiting the space of a no-show called "cupo por sustituión de ausencia").
At 15 minutes after each hour, like 0815, 0915, 1015, etc, wait near to the receptionist's station to see if she calls your name. This may happen if an opening occurs. NB. Unlike general medicine that continues well into the night, the dental office called 'Odontología' closes at 4pm.

2) request an appointment ('sacar cita') via the online portal 
Before using this process, you must first submit the following to receptionist at your local EBAIS.
your email address (re appointment for yourself) 
identification of a relative (re appointment for someone else, like children, spouses or the elderly)
Download the EDUS mobile app onto a smart phone and & setup your mobile account
In the EDUS app; 'registrarme' (to register yourself); enter data about your identification (type and number). 
For 'seguros voluntarios': 
for your ID type, select 'Extranjero ID CCSS' and 
for your ID number, use the abbreviated format of your number. 
Check and accept when you see your email address (in part for security) and the app's conditions. Then select 'enviar correo' (to request an email)
After finding the email by CCSS in your inbox (or Spam), click the blue link in the email (to create a password for the EDUS app).
Create a password based on the criteria that appears on the screen

Click 'iniciar sesión' (to open a session) and enter your password
'Citas médicas'
(For someone else, click the little arrow next to you name to find the other person's name).
Click the '+' button.
Available appointments begin to appear only from the last few days of the previous month. This means that this page typically appears empty from at least the second week of a month and will remain that way if no-shows never announce intentions in advance. Example: available time slots in February will appear in late January. 
Fill out the form
Optionally, click 'Validar derechos' to check the status of your social security account before the appointment.

CONTENT RELATED TO SETTING UP HEALTHCARE APPOINTMENTS WITH COSTA BECAUSE EBAIS

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