HPI

Doctors in Krupina city have not been paid from the beginning of the year for their night emergency service. In January they asked local hospital for 50% increase of payments. As they did not make an agreement, 9 out of 10 doctors did not sign the contracts and hospital did not pay them since that time. According to the President of the Association of private doctors Ladislav Pásztor, who represents the discontent doctors, despite this fact doctors are liable for working for private provider. According to the law if the primary care physicians do not enter into night service they could face a fine in amount of €3 000.

Parliament approved increase of state payments for its policyholders, change of risk-adjusted re-distribution of premium and change of solvency criteria of health insurance companies. Premium for state policyholders will increase from July 2012 to 4.32%. This is how the governmental reserve of €50 million will pour into the healthcare system. New predictor will be considered in the risk-adjusted re-distribution among health insurance companies – PCG as the proxy of the chronic illnesses of policyholders.

Nurses want due to avoiding of increasing of their wages turn themselves with an incentive to investigate the proceeding of state authorities and some health and non-health institutions to the public protector of rights Jana Dubovcová. The new law should have brought them the higher wages from April 2012. Since the Act entered into force, nurses and midwives experienced several intentions of employers for seeking of the ways how to avoid the fulfilling of the law, thus declaring of the minimum wage claim of nurses and midwives. 

After nurses also labour inspectors warn that hospitals are not paying nurses their full wages. From eight hospitals visited by inspectors, nurses were deprived of their wages by the management of three institutions – in Brezno, Zvolen and Veľký Krtíš. Directors allegedly did not have any objections to the findings and proposed measures and made an agreement on the deadline of corrections. Nurses, who would like to have their wages paid, have to, however, solve it on the court.   

In the times when some hospitals were struggling with the lack of pharmaceuticals for their oncological patients, hospital in Prešov traded with them. Despite of its high loss, hospital purchased pharmaceuticals for seven months ahead and sold them immediately to two distribution companies. Incentive of the excessive purchase of pharmaceuticals and subsequent sale is not clear. Ministry of Health will not complain against former management, as according to Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská the law was not violated. 

Nurses are calling on the Government, Ministries of Labour and Health, as well as Parliament to urgently seek for the solution of stalemate situation, which occurred in connection with the fulfilling of also their wage claims. They also dislike the way of fulfilling of new act, which should have increased their wages from April. Due to the new supplements to the distribution of the duties they therefore do not exclude the initiative to the Constitutional Court for violation of fundamental human rights. They also want to inform the international organizations and ask them for help. 

Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company) will increase payments for hospitals by €3.8 million monthly. The amount will be divided into particular hospitals after separate negotiations with each of them. It will depend on the individual impact of increased wages of doctors and nurses on hospital's costs. Increase is covered from €50 million governmental reserve in the state budget. 

Ministry of Health plans the change in the system of purchasing of vaccines. Currently doctors have to purchase them by themselves. Until December they were delivered to doctors for particular patients by pharmacies and afterwards they were reimbursed by the health insurance company. Doctors in January called for declaration of emergency state, lately they agreed with Ministry on the simplification and elimination of some administrative barriers. In summer Ministry plans to open the act on pharmaceuticals and incorporate the mentioned change into it. Doctors would no longer have to finance the vaccines.

In the case of no increasing of payments for outpatient clinics in connection with the act on wages of nurse, it could according to the head of Slovak Medical Chamber, Marian Kollár, come to the extinction of some of them. He pointed out that outpatient clinics have deep under-financed payments for particular performances. According to Kollár this might in short time cause the closing of outpatient clinics in the case that there will not be such contracts with insurance companies, which could help them to survive. Chamber is reportedly ready to participate not only on the preparation, but also on the support of all proposals and solutions. 

Bardejov Spa was last year visited by 17 021 persons, of which 44% were self-paying clients and 56% of clients were reimbursed by the insurance companies. Average length of the stay was 13.6 days. Most of the visitors were from Slovakia, followed by the clients from Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Austria and other countries. In this year Spa prepared for the visitors new attractions, rich cultural and social program and again invested into the reconstructions of the housing facilities. Bardejov Spa is currently allegedly one of the best-equipped medical institutions.