We need to assess the risk of signing further contracts!

Service providers associated in the Healthcare Employers' Agreement are surprised by the position of Filip Nowak, President of the National Health Fund, who, thanking for the talks, unilaterally closes further planned negotiations.

- We take care of the health of millions of Poles and employ huge numbers of employees. We are responsible for the financial effects of our own enterprises with our own family budgets. Making a decision to sign contracts for further operations requires an assessment of the financial risk! Without such an assessment, we cannot make a decision to sign contracts!– stresses Bożena Janicka, the president of PPOZ, in a letter to the President of the National Health Fund, asking for answers to the questions presented.

In a letter sent to PPOZ service providers, Filip Nowak, the President of the National Health Fund, "thanking for valuable suggestions regarding the improvement of the organization and functioning of primary health care", informed about the plans to implement an order to strengthen primary health care entities performing tasks in rural areas, about the introduction of changes regarding the amount coefficients adjusting the capitation rate in selected age groups, as well as a change in the financing and rules of settling services provided to patients with multiple diseases (as proposed by the National Health Fund). "Due to the fact that the proposals of the community of healthcare providers will be implemented in the relevant provisions contained in the order of the President of the National Health Fund, it should be considered that the topic of our expert meetings has been exhausted.

The position of the President of the National Health Fund in the opinion of PPOZ unilaterally closes further negotiations.

...- Apparently, the arrangements made with representatives of the PZ Federation were considered beneficial for the National Health Fund. However, their assessment by physicians associated in PPOZ is different. They do not take into account the postulated indexation of the value of contracts by the level of inflation. Currently, in health care it is about 20 percent. At the same time, I would like to point out that until now I have not received all the information I requested - emphasizes Bożena Janicka, asking for comprehensive answers to the following questions:

1. what was the cost of financing the 3.2 indicator in individual age groups in 2021 and 2022?
2. what is the projection of the financial effects for the second half of 2023 for the new indicator (for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th disease group) based on the current reporting by healthcare providers for these diseases?
3. what will be the financial impact of reducing the number of diagnoses of chronic diseases according to ICD-10 from 75 to only 33 from the second half of 2023?
4. since when will the application enabling the coding of chronically ill patients in terms of planned changes (additions for each disease group) be available? We point out that the status as of July 1, 2023 will be a 6-month backward verification, i.e. the application should enable coding in 4 disease groups from January 2023?
5. what was the reason for the slight increase in the base rate in only two age brackets? Why is the age range from 0 to 2 years not financed by the 3.2 ratio, as I postulated earlier?
6. the content of the agreement concluded with the PZ shows that the flat rate per coordinator in the amount of PLN 6,500 is provided only until the end of 2023. So how will the coordinator be financed in 2024?
7. What is the reason for contracts to be concluded for a period of 27 months? What is planned from April 1, 2025?

…- PPOZ service providers not only take care of the health of millions of Poles. They are also employers for a large number of medical and administrative employees. They are responsible for the financial consequences of their decisions regarding their own enterprises with their own family budgets. They are not backed by the state budget or the local government budget. Therefore, they must assess the financial risk of the contracts they sign many years in advance. Providing the above information

will allow service providers to make an informed decision to sign or not to sign a further contract with the National Health Fund, informs Bożena Janicka in a letter to the President of the National Health Fund.

press info