“The finances of county hospitals are in an increasingly dire state,” said Waldemar Malinowski, President of the Nationwide Association of Employers of County Hospitals. He added that, according to the document, dozens of facilities may go bankrupt. As he reported, the financial condition report shows that at least 40 institutions are at risk of collapse. The association is calling for simplification of the system.
According to the head of the association, simplifying the healthcare system is essential.
“It is overregulated, already impossible to manage organizationally, and soon the legal environment will make it impossible to operate” he stated. He emphasized that the solution lies in a new law on medical activity.
The association issued a statement stressing that “the current healthcare financing policy is driving (…) facilities to collapse and poses a real threat to patient safety”. It explained that the lack of settlements for 2025, restrictions on financing for overperformance, and undervaluation of services mean that the vast majority of county hospitals end the year with losses, while cumulative results nationwide reach billions of zlotys.
In the association’s assessment, “particularly dangerous are the new announcements by the National Health Fund regarding the limitation of financing for outpatient specialist care and rehabilitation, as well as changes in the settlement rules for CT scans, MRI, gastroscopy and colonoscopy”. This refers to the new rules for settling these diagnostic tests introduced in April. So-called degressive rates have been implemented. For each colonoscopy and gastroscopy performed above the contract value, the National Health Fund pays facilities 60 percent of the standard rate.
The Polish Union of Clinical Hospitals also spoke out on the changes in healthcare last week. “The actions observed in recent weeks by the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund lead us, as those responsible for managing clinical hospitals in Poland, to express our concern and opposition to seeking short-sighted savings in the healthcare system while simultaneously incurring a massive health debt in society, which cannot be repaid without a sharp increase in healthcare spending in the coming years” wrote representatives of the organization. They called for “a revision of the assumptions behind financial cuts in healthcare and the initiation of an urgent, reliable discussion on increasing healthcare spending in a way that would allow maintaining treatment standards in Poland at least at the current level, without harming patients and without promoting pathologies in the system in order to adapt to the financing mechanisms of the payer – the National Health Fund”.
To draw the attention of those in power to the problems of county hospitals, the association has planned a protest spread over several days this week. Facilities taking part will display flags, and staff will wear black T-shirts. Waldemar Malinowski assured that patients will not suffer as a result of these actions, and all medical services will proceed as normal. A minute of silence is also planned on Wednesday in front of hospitals.