"My Health" - 80,000 patients enrolled in the program

People aged 20-49 will be able to perform a comprehensive panel of tests as part of an adult health balance once every five years, older people once every three years. However, if a doctor determines that specific health parameters require more frequent monitoring, he or she will be able to order such tests already as part of the patient's individual health plan. The balance sheet, as the head of the Health Ministry, Izabela Leszczyna, stressed, does not preclude the patient from using other guaranteed services within the framework of the POZ.

National consultant in family medicine Prof. Agnieszka Mastalerz-Migas, in turn, reminded that the "My Health" program is a guaranteed benefit, meaning that it is available at any primary health care (PHC) facility. She pointed out that a patient can take advantage of the program at the clinic to which he or she is enrolled. - We already have many preventive programs in the system, but this is the first time we are introducing a comprehensive tool with a full assessment of the patient's health, she pointed out. Prof. Mastalerz-Migas also stressed that in addition to doctors, nurses and midwives or nutritionists will be involved in the implementation of the program. - In patients who will have a balance sheet completed and have an individual plan set up, a dietician will be able to perform nutritional education counseling. The patient will be entitled to two such counseling sessions.

Coordinators and preventionists are to play a huge role in implementing the program. - Each facility will be able to have a prevention coordinator on staff. There is a capitation rate for this. These will be the people who control the movement of the patient, for example making follow-up appointments," she added.

National Health Fund President Filip Nowak said that the primary care clinic will receive PLN 325 for each patient aged 20-59 and PLN 349 for patients aged 60 and older. He stressed that educational advice and some examinations will be financed from an additional pool. The NFZ president noted that the condition for billing is the completion of basic examinations and a follow-up visit. - These funds are already included in the NFZ plan. By the end of 2025, it is an amount of PLN 193 million, which has already been included in the financial plan. The amount will come from the subject subsidy of the Minister of Health. Thus, service providers can safely receive patients," he assured. He also stressed that if more people eventually enroll in the program (the pool of funds is enough for about 600,000 people until the end of 2025, next year the NFZ plans to secure PLN 400 million), the money will certainly be found.

Leszczyna stressed that the program being launched is the largest preventive health care project to date, which simultaneously strengthens the position of POZ in the system and promotes building good relationships between patients and primary care. - It is a program that requires both the patient and the doctor. We won't see success quickly, as politicians expect, i.e. in this term, but it will be visible in a few or a dozen years, she added.