Changes in Medical Fund: new sub-funds, investments and Patient Service Center

During a statement to the media on Monday, Minister Karol Rabenda said that President Karol Nawrocki will present a proposal for changes to the Medical Fund Law. - The President would like to propose a solution that will in part solve this difficult, tragic situation in health care, namely changes to the Medical Fund Law, Minister Karol Rabenda said. He recalled that this year's budget hole in the National Health Fund reaches 20 billion zlotys. He stressed that despite high state spending, financing health services cannot be an area where savings are made at the expense of patients. - Such a situation is unacceptable according to the President," he said.

Rabenda noted that formal responsibility for the health care situation rests with the government, but, he said, President Karol Nawrocki "does not remain passive."

Medical Fund: unused funds and proposed changes

The minister recalled that 800 million zlotys worth of research was funded from the Medical Fund this year. At the same time, he said, due to the "incompetence of the previous Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna," funds for investments remained unused, primarily in the area of oncology.

- The President proposes to transfer these funds to treat patients, adolescents and children," he conveyed. He pointed out, however, that the transfer of funds alone is not enough: - The situation is so dramatic that one transfer of funds cannot cure the situation of Polish patients, although, he stressed, any solution "should be considered and implemented." That's why the President is asking the parliament to prepare statutory changes that "will allow to inject more than PLN 3.5 billion into the NFZ budget."

New tasks for the Medical Fund

The details of the proposed solutions were presented by Presidential Advisor Professor Piotr Czauderna. As he explained, the prepared amendment, in addition to fully funding the treatment of children, introduces three new tasks for the Fund, including:

1. A sub-fund for rare diseases in children to provide stable funding for diagnosis and treatment of patients up to the age of 18. Currently, families are often forced to run public collections.
2. A security infrastructure sub-fund that finances investments necessary to ensure the continued operation of the health care system under emergency conditions, including warfare.

Prof. Czauderna recalled that a meeting was recently held at the President's Office on preparing hospitals for emergencies.

- It is necessary to expand the infrastructure of Polish hospitals so that they are ready for such challenges. Not only for the situation of a war conflict, whether full-scale or hybrid, but also for situations of natural disasters, disasters of the nature of mass accidents or other types of events, terrorist acts," the presidential adviser said.

Patient Service Center - an announcement from the election campaign

Another element of the changes is the establishment of a Patient Service Center, already announced during Karol Nawrocki's election campaign. The center would be financed by the Medical Fund, and its task would be to ensure equal access to publicly financed services.

- It's not just about being able to register more efficiently whether to specialists or for imaging tests, but also about spreading information about preventive examinations, about one's own health, but also getting feedback on the quality of medical services through communication with patients, which would help improve the quality of these services," explained Prof. Czauderna.

The draft will go to the Diet

Presidential Spokesman Rafal Leskiewicz said that the draft amendment to the Medical Fund Law will be submitted to the Sejm on Tuesday. The Medical Fund was established in 2020 on the initiative of President Andrzej Duda in cooperation with the Ministry of Health as an additional source of funding for activities that improve the health and quality of life of Poles.

Source: President.co.uk