Head of the Polish Union of Clinical Hospitals: financing does not keep up with modern treatment methods

Clinical hospitals in Poland are faced with a paradox: the dynamic development of technology and access to KPO funds coincide with the growing shortage of money for services, said the chairman of the Polish Union of Clinical Hospitals, Dr. Jakub Kraszewski.

Dr. Kraszewski, who also heads the University Clinical Center in Gdańsk, participated on Thursday in Katowice in the first joint meeting of the Polish Union of Clinical Hospitals (PUSK) and the Conference of Rectors of Academic Medical Universities (KRAUM). One of the topics of the meeting was the situation of clinical hospitals.

At the end of the press briefing accompanying the congress, Dr. Kraszewski emphasized that clinical hospitals, which provide care for approximately 15-20 percent all patients and provide most highly specialized services, they are among the most effective facilities in the country in terms of treatment, availability and resource management.

– Currently, we have a situation where an incredible leap has been made in terms of technology development and availability of new treatment methods and diagnostics. We are, or are in the process of, absorbing huge and actually unique funds from the KPO. Unfortunately, it is a paradox that this coincides with a time when there is no money in the system to provide benefits, said the head of the Gdańsk UCK.

He emphasized that representatives of this group of hospitals are sad to hear that they would limit or in some way limit highly specialized services, while for the last three years they have been fighting to reverse the pyramid of services (transferring simpler services to primary and outpatient care, among others, in order to increase the possibilities of providing highly specialized services in hospitals – PAP).

– Therefore, maybe it is time to look at financing the system, maybe it is necessary to popularize the payment of health insurance contributions – said Kraszewski. – About 10 percent is missing. (funds – PAP) in the system. On the one hand, there are certainly necessary savings, also in the area of ​​wages, because they have already caught up with EU wages in many areas. On the other hand, we should work on increasing expenses, because they are significantly lower, for example than our southern neighbors – said the chairman of PUSK.

Earlier, the president of the National Health Fund, Filip Nowak, emphasized the importance of joint discussion with representatives of clinical hospitals and rectors, i.e. the bodies creating these hospitals, on how to prepare the health care system, including clinical hospitals, for expected future scenarios, also in the context of the payer's financial capabilities.

– Probably not all the information and proposals we submit are received with great enthusiasm, but I believe that our partners from clinical hospitals and medical universities understand that we do everything for patients in order to also optimize the financial economy on which the functioning of the health care system is based – said Nowak.

Deputy Minister of Health Katarzyna Kacperczyk, who attended the briefings, mentioned current challenges, including: social and geopolitical, for the system. – This requires not only cooperation and collaboration between universities, hospitals and the Ministry of Health; this also requires a new approach to the education of students and medical staff, but also to the organization of the health care system and the role (in it – PAP) of clinical hospitals – said Kacperczyk. (PAP)

mtb/ akar/