5 deadly sins of the bill on the modernization and improvement of the efficiency of hospitality

The Union of Polish Poviats has long indicated the need to introduce changes to rationalize the functioning of the health care system in Poland.

Unfortunately, our voice - just like the voice of practitioners - is ignored, and solutions that have nothing to do with real problems are being forced. The best example of this is the bill on the modernization and improvement of the efficiency of hospitality, which - contrary to the title that was given to it - will lead to the degradation of local hospitals. For this reason, the Association of Polish Poviats is categorically against the further procedure of this project, emphasizes Andrzej Płonka, president of the ZPP.

The Association of Polish Poviats points to 5 major drawbacks of the project:

1. The project is not a system solution. Firstly, it focuses only on hospital treatment, ignoring what is one of the main sources of problems in the Polish health care system - the scope of patient treatment under primary care prior to its transition to the AOS level, and then to hospital treatment. Secondly, the project is limited to public hospitals only, leaving private hospitals contracted with the National Health Fund outside the scope of the regulation. Meanwhile, from the point of view of providing health services, the ownership structure of the hospital does not matter.

2. The project focuses on financial efficiency, forgetting that there is no point in considering managing poverty effectively. This disadvantage is particularly great in the context of constantly increasing costs of medical activities in the hospital sector. It is worth noting here that the real expenditure on hospital treatment in Poland is one of the lowest in Europe. Compared to other developed European countries, it can also be seen that the potential of hospitals as providers of non-hospital health services is not used in Poland.

3. The project centralizes management while dispersing responsibility. The newly created entity is to have a direct impact on the operation of hospitals - the Hospital Development Agency operating next to the Ministry of Health, the National Health Fund, the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariffs already responsible for the functioning of the system. It is worth emphasizing that the Hospital Development Agency will not be responsible for the consequences of its actions - hospitals and their owners will be responsible.

4. The authority of the Hospital Development Agency will not be limited to entities over which are undergoing restructuring proceedings. The concept of the project assumes the possibility of authoritative interference by the Hospital Development Agency in the scope of the contract concluded between the medical entity and the National Health Fund. The draft does not define clear rules on the basis of which such decisions will be taken, does not provide for an obligation to justify such decisions, or for an appeal or court procedure in which a medical entity could question such action of the Agency. Here too, the consequences of the Agency's actions fall not on it, but on hospitals and their owners.

5. The project itself contains many phrases inconsistent with other acts already in force legal. The project - especially in its initial part - lists a number of unspecified obligations imposed on the managers of medical entities without specifying the instruments on the basis of which these obligations would be implemented. Of course, this does not prevent potential liability for not fulfilling these obligations.

In the opinion of ZPP, the project of changes in hospitality - in its current form - will only contribute to chaos in local government hospitals without solving the real problems of the health care system.

Source: ZPP