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HPI
Banská Bystrica region and representatives of non-state hospitals in this territorial scope are appealing to health insurance companies and competent authorities for the speedy solution of their impending collapse due to the statutory increase of wages of doctors and nurses. Required solution involves the submission of amendments to the contracts with insurance companies. These should, proportionally according to the representation of insurance companies in particular regions, fully cover the increased costs of hospitals on the wages of doctors and nurses in the form of lump-sum payment.
Robot-assisted operations with the help of Da Vinci technology in hospital in Banská Bystrica are partly covered by the state-owned Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company). Hospital, however, entered into the negotiation also with the private health insurance company Dôvera. Dôvera did not want to specify the interim results of negotiations, daily SME reports. Costs on robot-assisted radical prostatectomy are around € 4 300, while the patient pays € 300 of this amount.
Doctors continue their protest against the increasing of wages of nurses and want to suspend the force of the Act on their wages. Slovak Medical Chamber is asking the General Prosecutor to bring the proceedings to the Constitutional Court of Slovak Republic. Court should, according to Chamber, decide that the Act on minimum wage claims of nurses and midwives is inconsistent with the Constitution and also suspend its efficiency.
Hospitals currently owe to Social insurance € 24.12 million. Most of this amount are the unsettled liabilities of smaller hospitals, as in October last year the debts of state-owned hospitals were set off by state with the amount of more than € 58,8 million. Social insurance, however, after debt elimination of hospitals registers increasing of claims against the state-owned hospitals again. Most indebted hospitals are in Trenčín region.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Health Committee Viliam Novotný believes that money needed for covering the minimum wage claims of nurses are available. As an example he cited the reserve in state budget in amount of € 50 million, savings due to approved acts on pharmaceuticals, increased collection of premium from economically active policyholders or savings on inefficient prescribing. In his opinion it is firstly necessary to look for the internal savings in the health care and afterwards, if necessary, use the existing reserve in amount of € 50 million.
Nurses are due to the new act on minimum wage claims, approved by Parliament in the beginning of February, under big pressure. According to the president of Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives Mária Lévyová currently is being doubt not only the Act, but also the activities of the Chamber. Nurses are according to her discouraged and their superiors threaten them with dismissals. President of the Chamber would, instead of degradation of nurses, welcome the constructive negotiations between providers and health insurance companies.
New decree of Ministry of Health will shift more pharmaceuticals to the category of supporting pharmaceuticals. This means that they will not be covered by insurance companies. About hundred of pharmaceuticals will be more expensive from April. New decree allows the shifting of 130 medicaments and 92 specific pharmaceuticals into the category of supporting, what means that patients will have to fully pay for them by themselves. Insurance companies will allegedly annually save on these pharmaceuticals more than € 16 million.
State-owned Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (VšZP) prefers the private companies to public hospitals, according to daily Pravda. This applies in the case of MRI (magnetic resonance imagination). University hospital in Košice has been providing two magnetic resonances for couple of years, but from January this year the VšZP has a contract also with a private company there. This one receives more generous payments from VšZP than the hospital. While the monthly payment for two university departments are in the amount of € 75 000, private company is receiving € 125 000. The situation is similar also in Bratislava.
According to the Vice President of Slovak Chamber of Dentists Igor Moravčík the increasing of salaries of nurses will affect also the dental clinics. Therefore they are asking for increasing of prices and financial limits from all three health insurance companies. Chamber is asking for modifying of contract conditions by increasing the capitation payments on average from 20 to 30%. Chamber and insurance companies agreed on further negotiations, as they did not make an agreement on the first one.
Employees of the providers of emergency medical services are launching threats, that they will not enter their jobs. The reason should be a new pricing measure of the Ministry of Health valid from February this year, which decreased the payments for ambulances. Representatives of ambulances also posted an open letter to Prime Minister Iveta Radičová, who, however, reportedly ignored it. Rescuers warn that on March 9th, i.e. the day before early elections, may happen that 2 500 rescuers will not enter their jobs.
