HPI

Financial group Penta has confirmed the intention to build the new hospital in Bratislava. It assumes that it can build it at lower cost than is the estimation of Ministry of Health. The hospital will be built instead of a 30 year unfinished building of Rázsochy. State wants to build the completely new hospital in the part of Bratislava called Patrónka next to the military hospital. The new facility will replace some hospitals which belong under teaching hospital and are in bad condition. The most mentioned are the hospitals located in Kramáre and at Mickiewiczova street. State wants to use the PPP model to build a new hospital, i.e. it will look for a partner who would build it. The ministry estimates that the new hospital with 775 beds will cost 250 million euros.

The Ministry of Health has prepared document which sets crucial changes in health care until 2030. It counts with the reduction of beds in hospitals. Whereas the current number of them is approximately 34 000, within 17 years the figure should plummet to 19 000. The document was already passed by government. The aim of the ministry is to make a better use of acute hospital beds. Those are earmarked for patients whose health status is suddenly deteriorated yet they do not pertain to chronic patients. The ministry plans to reduce their number and change their structure. On the other hand the number of rehabilitation and nursery beds for long-term sick (chronic hospital beds) should be increased.

Slavica Karajičić, MSc. je výskumným pracovníkom v Health Policy Institute. Zameriava sa hlavne na politické analýzy, reguláciu a otázky kvality zdravotnej starostlivosti. Primárne sa zaoberá perspektívou in vitro oplodnenia.

Pharmacists have for the first time announced a list of more than 170 pharmaceuticals which they have problem of providing them to the patients.  The list contains pharmaceuticals for serious diseases. The biggest part is composed of oncological pharmaceuticals, then pharmaceuticals for rheumatism and asthma, anemia and pharmaceuticals for treating HIV. The reason of this situation is not only the export of pharmaceuticals abroad but also the fact that they even do not reach the Slovak market. Ministry of Health Care refuses the problem of unavailability and blames the pharmacists for spreading of a hoax. Yet the pharmacists insist on the claim that the medications for patients are not available. Ministry of Health Care at the same time gave a fine for the first time in the amount of 10.000 euros because of unavailable medication and plans to continue with this. Currently it investigates the unavailability of four other pharmaceuticals.

Government of Slovak Republic has again discussed the creation of one state-owned health insurance company. Information about the fulfilling of the timetable of its implementing, does not state when the Ministry of Health Care could introduce the transformation law. The law which should have already been in force since May has not even been officially introduced by the ministry. When this will happen is not certain. According to the minister of health care Zuzana Zvolenská the law is ready, however, the date of proposing it is not determined yet because first it is necessary to resolve the question if financing. The tender for an advisor has not been announced yet as well. It should have already been finished until April. Ministry has already introduced its conditions and it should be announced after the disclosure of the law.

The health insurance company will change since the next year almost 110 000 people. The most successful in the re-insuring campaign was state-owned General Health Insurance Company (VšZP). Whereas in the preceding years the insured in VšZP were plummeting, VšZP will gain insured since 2014. Conversely, private Union health insurance company after many years for the first time has recorded a decline in the number of insured. As further stems from the results of re-insuring which were made public by Health Care Surveillance Authority (Úrad pre dohľad nad zdravotnou starostlivosťou – ÚDZS) compared to previous year the most insured, almost 10 000, will lose Union health insurance company. On the other hand, more than 9 000 insured will gain VšZP and 807 people will gain private health insurance company Dôvera. 

Project eHealth is financed from the operational program Informatization of Society (OPIS) which is controlled by Ministry of Finance (MoF). MoF requires the Ministry of Health Care to return 3.9 million euros which is ten percent of the amount which the European Union (EU) gave on eHealth. The reason is the clause in the contracts with two software companies from 2011. This was agreed and approved by the Ministry of Finance under Ivan Mikloš and later under Peter Kažimír described as unacceptable and refused to repay. New administration of MoF evaluated commissioning of new software orders by a common clause as a infringing the rules by which are governed the EU funds. Current minister of health care Zuzana Zvolenská judges the case as a failure of previous minister of health care Ivan Uhliarik.

Governmental analysts have for the first time admitted that the debt of hospitals will this year again exceed the level at which the past governments have already given up and paid the debts of hospitals from the budget. Institute for Financial Policy which belongs under the Ministry of Finance assumes that till the end of the year will the public hospitals have liabilities after maturity in the amount of 330 mil. euros, which is approximately 0.4 percent of GDP. Health care facilities owed at the end of October on premium to Social Insurance Company more than 79.9 million euros. Since the end of the last year have their accounts receivables increased by 31.2 mil euros. Accounts receivables towards state-owned health care facilities attained at the end of October 50.4 million euros. That means they have risen within a month by more than 2.4 million euros.

German court did not prove right the Slovak opinion when it confirmed that the arbitrage court did not have the competence. Up till now it is in force that government has to pay for the damage stemming from the prohibition of paying out the profit of private insurance companies from the times of first Fico’s government. The highest court of Germany will not deal with the request of Slovakia about judging the competency of arbitrage court which decided about the reimbursement of the owner of private insurance company Union. Hence Slovakia is one step closer to paying 22 million euros as the damages and 3 million for the court costs to the owner of insurance company, Dutch corporation Achmea. According to the decision both sides now have one month to make a statement about it. 

State-owned General Health Insurance Company (VśZP) will in the coming months examine how many of the physicians – specialists are available for the patients. And not only from the point of view of geographical availability but also capacity availability. The result should be that specialists will get conditions which they have to fulfil in order to obtain a contract with the insurance company. General Health Insurance Company will focus on the physicians who run their private outpatients’ department only on part time. At first sight is the network of specialized outpatients’ departments oversized, however, in reality patients many times cannot get an appointment with the physician when they need it. Therefore the director of General Health Insurance Company has stated that they will not contract the number of physicians but the scope of opening hours.