NHF closed 2022 with several billion in profit

According to Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska, the NFZ's revenues amounted to more than PLN 140.7 billion, 1.52 percent more than planned. Costs closed at more than PLN 133.5 billion. The largest amount was spent on hospital treatment: PLN 65.7 billion.

The NFZ's profit amounted to more than PLN 7.2 billion, of which more than PLN 4.5 billion was attributable to scheduled and unearned benefits.

- This followed restrictions on the provision of health care due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the rules for contracting and financing health care services set forth in the provisions of the Law on Health Care Services, restrictions on the possibility of accessing a contracted health care provider due to the state of the epidemic, as well as incomplete implementation of the plan in POZ, Waldemar Kraska mentioned.

During the committee's meeting, the topic of queues for specialists was hotly debated. Questions were raised about why, when health care expenditures are increasing and there are surpluses in the payer's coffers, waiting times are still very long. The deputy health minister said that in fact queues are decreasing. An example is cardiology. Dzięki pilotażowi Krajowej Sieci Kardiologicznej, w niektórych województwach czas oczekiwania na wizytę skrócił się z kilku miesięcy do co najwyżej kilku tygodni. According to Waldemar Kraska, specialist physicians in Poland are still being misused in the system.

– Na świecie jest tak, że specjaliści konsultują chorych wtedy, kiedy trzeba zmienić terapię lub wykonać dodatkową diagnostykę. In our country, for many years they have only been prescribing more prescriptions for those who do not require any additional interventions," he said.

In the end, the Parliamentary Health Committee gave a positive opinion on the NFZ report.