BRATISLAVA, June 20, (WEBNOVINY) — The Slovak Association of Hospitals contests the plan of the state-run health insurer Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP), the number one player on the local health insurance market, to not conclude contracts with general hospitals‘ chronic patients wards. According to the statement of small healthcare facilities, this step is at odds with the government’s program statement in the area of the health sector and the principle that the association and the insurer promised to abide by at their joint meeting in early June. Hospitals say that the number of chronic sickbeds in Slovakia is lower than the EU median in the long run. “By their reduction the accessibility of healthcare for chronic patients will be endangered mainly in regions with prevalence of low-income groups,” warns the association.
The VsZP announced on Friday it would not sign contracts with 156 wards at Slovak hospitals as of July, some 15 percent of all wards. As Director General Marian Faktor reported on Friday this decision will hit 3,300 of nearly 34,000 sickbeds. There should be 29,133 sickbeds in the minimum hospital network. The optimization will be implemented in all kinds of hospitals throughout Slovakia, mostly otorhinolaryngology wards. The measure will be partly offset by transferring some treatments to one-day healthcare centers while part of the hospital treatment will be replaced by healthcare provided at outpatients units and assisted living facilities. Professionally and financially difficult treatments will be transferred to specialized centers. University and faculty hospitals will merge their wards and clinics. Also the private Zdravotna Poistovna Dovera supports restructuring the hospitals and their sickbeds.
SITA