Poland axes hospital budget
publication date: Jul 29, 2009
Poland, the only country in the EU where GDP continues to grow, has just axed hospital spend by 8% in 2009 and 2010. The sudden change has led to uproar from unions.
The new plan announced in late July will see the total budget left flat with a swing towards outpatient care. Marcin Ajewski says the change will put further impetus behind the “commercialization” of hospitals whereby publicly owned hospitals are effectively transformed into limited companies with a board of directors and limits on how much they can borrow.
He says commercialization continues to grow fast. “Today some 72 hospitals have commercialized and a further 69 are in the process. I expect that next year 1 in 3 of the 600 will have done so – a year ago it was one in 20.”
Cuts in hospital budget will also hurt the private sector. “Typically private hospitals in Poland get 60% of their revenue from the National Health Insurance Fund.”
The new plan announced in late July will see the total budget left flat with a swing towards outpatient care. Marcin Ajewski says the change will put further impetus behind the “commercialization” of hospitals whereby publicly owned hospitals are effectively transformed into limited companies with a board of directors and limits on how much they can borrow.
He says commercialization continues to grow fast. “Today some 72 hospitals have commercialized and a further 69 are in the process. I expect that next year 1 in 3 of the 600 will have done so – a year ago it was one in 20.”
Cuts in hospital budget will also hurt the private sector. “Typically private hospitals in Poland get 60% of their revenue from the National Health Insurance Fund.”