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Tag: patients
Ministry of Health is working on further reduction of beds and departments in the frame of decreasing of debts of faculty hospitals. Compared with last year this optimizing should be carried out gradually and only in big cities. Cancelling of beds and departments is related to presented plans of the Ministry to centralize the performances. In practice this means that hospitals will be specialized on certain procedures so they would not be provided in other hospitals at once.
Prohibition of loyalty systems in public pharmacies already has its legal version. Ministry of Health has submitted to public comments the material, which proposes the prohibition of providing financial or non-financial benefits and donations by the pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements and medical devices available on prescription. Holder of the provision for providing of pharmaceutical care will not be able to provide such benefits personally or through other persons.
Health insurance company Dôvera began with sending of annual settlement of insurance to first 50 000 clients. Further settlements will be sent by this insurance company on the date chosen by its policyholders. Dôvera plans to make totally 170 000 of them. Clients can find the result at their home address or at the address of their employer. Detail calculation can be found also on the website of insurance company.
More than 26% of total health care expenditures in 2010 were on pharmaceuticals. Compared to other OECD countries thus Slovakia had the third highest share of expenditures on pharmaceuticals, right after Hungary and Mexico. Slovakia got well above the average of all OECD countries, which stands at 16.6%. This was alleged in the OECD Health Data 2012 report published on the website of the organization, which provides information from 2010.
Consequences of the failure to pay insurance are becoming more serious for policyholders. Last year the penalties for late payments were tightened by the law. Now, moreover, Dôvera came with the mechanism, which will ensure that bad payers will not get their planned interventions. Dôvera thanks to the online reporting system of hospitalisations – HospiCOM, knows about the planned hospitalisation in advance, so Dôvera can warn the hospital about the non-payer and thus the health care will not be covered.
Health insurance companies are annually registering hundreds of reimbursement treatments abroad. As explained the spokeswoman of Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa - VšZP (General Health Insurance Company), Dana Gašparíková, their policyholders travelled especially to Czech republic, Austria and Germany. Similar countries are registered also by private health insurance companies Dôvera and Union. Policyholders were treated for example also in USA, Switzerland or Hungary. Insurance companies last year approved totally 746 proposals for treatment out of Slovakia. Most were approved by VšZP – 544, followed by Dôvera with 166 and Union with 36.
Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists repeatedly fights against so called “loyalty systems”. Discounts and bonuses used in some pharmacies in the competitive struggle are, according to the Chamber, changing the consumer behaviour of patients. This is turning more to saving than to expertise of issuing of pharmaceutical. The fact that people are more looking at discounts than at the professionalism is also shown by the July survey of the agency Focus. According to it about 25% of regular visitors of pharmacies are following the bonuses.
Patients taking pharmaceuticals for elevated cholesterol levels, osteoporosis or prescribed antibiotics, might pay more in pharmacy from 1st August. In the July categorization the supplementary charges decreased, but now they will be increased. In august, the Reimbursement Committee decided that supplementary charge will be increased by almost 1 300 pharmaceuticals. Patient may avoid the paying of supplementary charge by choosing the alternative pharmaceuticals, which is fully covered by health insurance company.
Spas are losing customers, who are being sent there for after-care by doctors. Reason is the increasing of payments for diabetics and people with high blood pressure. Although these are diseases, which are affecting more and more people. After the change of the act, the patients with these diagnoses since December last year have to pay supplementary payments for accommodation and food. Previously it was covered by health insurance company.
Slovaks visit the doctor during the year the most often among all EU countries. Annually 12 visits of general practitioner or specialist fall on each Slovak. Slovakia is then followed by Hungarians and Czechs. This results from the information of OECD, where the average is on the level of around 6 consultations per year. Slovakia is in the forefront also in the number of examinations carried out by one doctors, what is caused by the gradual loss of doctors.
