Removing limits to palliative and hospice care is one of Minister Izabela Leszczyna's announcements. There is a draft ordinance to abolish limits on the treatment of patients in inpatient hospices, palliative medicine units, home hospices and palliative medicine outpatient clinics.

- Lifting limits is not an end in itself, but a means to increase accessibility. We will be doing this in hospice care, for example," assured Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna in one of her first interviews.

We have just drafted legislation so that funding limits will no longer apply to palliative medicine units, inpatient and home hospices and palliative medicine clinics.

Combined with the already unlimited funding of services for children and adolescents, this effectively means that the National Health Service will pay for every patient who is covered by public palliative and hospice care.

Public consultations will last until March 27, 2024. After their analysis, the President of the National Health Fund will issue a final order that will abolish limits in palliative and hospice care. We assume that the changes will take effect as early as April 1, 2024.

The removal of limits in palliative and hospice care is another important change in this area. Previously, the price per point and funding for outpatient palliative care clinic visits increased. Currently, in addition to the abolition of limits, work is underway to draft a new tariff for guaranteed services in palliative and hospice care and to update the basket of guaranteed services. This package of measures is expected to improve the quality and availability of services.

Source: NFZ