There will be meetings with hospital directors and local government officials in the various provinces, the promise was heard from representatives of the OZPSzP, who spoke with Health Minister Izabela Leszczyna and her colleagues for three hours on Monday. The meetings are to concern, of course, the changes in hospitality that will be introduced by the amendment to the Law on Health Services.
Who is hurt by the minimum wage law?
Published Sept. 3, 2024 07:41
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The process of public consultation on the draft has already ended, and the All-Poland Association of County Hospital Employers, as its president Waldemar Malinowski said after Monday's meeting, had a number of comments on it. The doubts of local government officials and directors of local government facilities are expected to be helped by meetings in the provinces, which will be attended by Deputy Minister Jerzy Szafranowicz (as well as voivodes and directors of NFZ branches).
During a brief press briefing, representatives of hospital directors and the government side assured of a good atmosphere in the talks and that the Ministry was showing goodwill. The journalists heard that there are again problems with regulating payment for surplus services - but the Fund (the meeting was attended by Vice President Jakub Szulc) pledged to pay as soon as possible. However, it is not known how the situation will look in individual provinces - Szulc admitted that in Mazovia, for example, hospitals have signed annexes only for the third quarter, because the current financial plan lacks the payer's funds to cover contracts in the last quarter of the year. The plan, the deputy head of the National Health Fund added, is expected to be amended soon and then hospitals will receive annexes covering the remaining months.
It is clear from both Jakub Szulc's and Waldemar Malinowski's statements that the Minimum Wage Law for Health Care Workers is becoming an increasing problem for both hospitals and NFZ finances. - As of 2022, the law is hurting county hospitals, as most of them are simply short of money. To pay salaries, we have to earn it," Malinowski said. Hospitals have to realize massive overcharges, which further increase costs. - As OZPSP, we stand by our position that next year the cost of the bill must be counted as an additional 16 billion zlotys. If we take into account the civic bill to amend this law, we are talking about another PLN 10 billion. If this law functions next year, it will exhaust its assumptions and we need to think about what to do with it next," he assessed. - The implementation of the minimum wage law will consume the entire increment resulting from the assignment of premiums to the NFZ. It could also happen that it will consume more," Szulc stated instead.
