The hospital network is a group of hospitals financed by the National He alth Fund from October 1, 2022. There were 594 facilities in the hospital network, and 355 hospitals outside it. Does this mean the latter will be closed? What changes does the so-called hospital network? Which institutions have qualified for it? Where from October to seek medical assistance on Sundays and public holidays?

The network of hospitals(in other words, the system of basic hospital he alth care security - PES) is a group of hospitals that have been financed by the National He alth Fund from October 2022. 594 facilities have been qualified to the network of hospitals, of which 516 are public hospitals and 78 non-public. 355 hospitals remain outside the network, 16 of them are public institutions.

What's the deal with the hospital network?

The hospital network is a group of hospitals that have been financed by the National He alth Fund since October 2022. The network of hospitals has been expanded to include medical facilities that have met the following conditions: they have provided services in an admission room or hospital emergency department under a contract with the National He alth Fund for at least the last 2 years and have specific departments listed in the Act.

Outlets that will be in the network are divided into several different levels, the so-called security system. The first stage is mainly composed of poviat hospitals, the second - supra-poviat hospitals, and the third - voivodeship hospitals. The next levels are hospitals: pediatric, national, oncology and pulmonary. The network also includes specialist outpatient care in hospital clinics as well as night and holiday he alth care.

As we read on the website of the Ministry of He alth, the act creating the so-called the network of hospitals introduces new solutions that will streamline the organization of the provision of he althcare services by hospitals and hospital clinics and will improve patients' access to specialist treatment in hospitals. They will allow to optimize the number of specialist departments and enable better coordination of inpatient and outpatient services. They will also facilitate the management of hospitals.

- The network will include hospitals that are particularly important for providing patients with equal access tohe alth benefits - provides p.o. of the spokesman for the National He alth Fund, Sylwia Wądrzyk.

What - according to the Ministry of He alth - are the benefits for the patient?

  • patient treatment coordination - better accessibility of hospital clinics. The hospital network restores systemic justice through comprehensive patient care, also in the event of complications
  • significant reduction of queues at HEDs and emergency rooms - night and holiday he alth care clinics will be operating at HEDs and emergency rooms to unload queues at HEDs and emergency rooms
  • hospital network introduces comprehensive patient care, which will be organized by the hospital - no more dividing patients into better and worse
  • providing rehabilitation for the patient - a hospital in the network will provide the patient with inpatient treatment, appropriate specialist clinic and rehabilitation

Hospital network - I have an operation in an off-network hospital? What to do?

Hospitals that are not online can be submitted to the competition to get money for their functioning. However, it is currently not possible to determine when the competitions will be announced and the amount of funds that will be allocated to the purchase of these benefits. Therefore, it can be expected that some hospitals, which will not have public funding, will probably treat for money.

Patients entered on the waiting list in a hospital that was not connected to the network (and at the same time did not obtain a contract with the National He alth Fund), can enter the waiting list kept by another facility. The hospital to which the patient reports to determines the order of admissions, taking into account the date of reporting at the previous facility.

So what is to be done by a patient who is scheduled for surgery in a hospital, who has not been found online? In such a situation, the National He alth Fund is to help the patient find a facility from the group of hospital networks that will perform the procedure. The patient can also search on his own. According to the new regulations, if a given facility has not entered the hospital network, it will have to issue a special certificate to the patient with the following information: what procedure is waiting for, what is the place in the queue and what is the expected date of hospitalization. With such a certificate, the patient will have to go to a hospital, which is part of the hospital network and is financed by the National He alth Fund. Such facility will have to take into account the certificate and provide the patient with the same place in the queue. However, the planned date of the operation may change.

Will the patient have to perform all the tests again in the new facility? No, like thatsituation, the patient must ensure that his medical documentation is transferred to another facility. May apply for photocopies or copies (payable). Some facilities with electronic documentation will provide them to the patient on a CD.

Worth knowing

Hospitals in the network will be guaranteed a contract with the National He alth Fund and funds for activities in the form of a lump sum. Currently, the hospital receives funds only after the service has been performed, so it cares about admitting the patient. Some specialists believe that in the planned model, when hospitals are to be paid a lump sum before any procedure is performed, the patient will be an expense. However, the Ministry of He alth, when asked if the lump sum will cause hospitals to admit fewer patients and perform fewer procedures, replies:

"When determining the amount of the lump sum for a given period, the data on the services provided and reported by the hospital in the previous accounting period will be used as the basis. This will ensure an appropriate level of funding for hospitals entering the PES. , allowing to respond to the he alth needs of patients to a greater extent than at present. Some services will be settled as before - depending on the number of patients admitted. Detailed provisions will be included in the contract between the hospital and the National He alth Fund. "

Hospital network means longer queues

As already mentioned, there are 355 facilities outside the hospital network. This means a much smaller number of hospital beds. According to the estimates of the National He alth Fund, 5 percent were outside the network. beds from facilities that have so far had contracts with the National He alth Fund. In addition, the facilities located in the hospital network will receive patients from facilities that are not financed by the National He alth Fund. As a result, the queues for treatments will be significantly longer, and not shortened, as assured by the Ministry of He alth. It will be up to the hospital to decide the order in which it will see patients based on their state of he alth.

The Ministry of He alth ensures that the queues will be shorter after the introduction of the hospital network. However, it can be expected that the opposite will be the case - the queues in facilities included in the hospital network will be longer.

Hospital network - changes in night he althcare

According to the act, night and holiday he alth care is to be provided at SORs or at the admission rooms of clinics that will enter the hospital network. Virtually all patients go to hospital emergency departments - both seriously ill and those who, for example, have run out of drugs. Night and holiday he alth care units located in SOR have unloading queueshospitals. However, experts suspect that the "night" physician may redirect the patient to the adjacent hospital emergency room or emergency room. This, in turn, means that patients who should not be there again come to the HED. In addition, if the hospital's night and holiday care is adjacent to the emergency department, many patients will try hard to get into the emergency room or HED. Therefore, less urgent patients will also go there.

Important

Which facilities are in the hospital network?

The exact list of hospitals and medical facilities on the list of hospital networks can be found HERE

Hospitals that meet the criteria and are online will have guaranteed funding for 4 years. Therefore, these lists will be valid from October 1 this year to June 30, 2022. However, if during this period something changes in the hospital and no longer meets the criteria, it may be removed from this network.

Source:

www.siecszpitali.mz.gov.pl

www.rynekzdrowia.pl

PAP

Category:

Patient's kit