Hospital commercialisation scheme gathers pace

2010-01-27

December brought a flurry of applications from public hospitals seeking to transform into commercial entities and join the government’s debt relief scheme, latest data seen by Rynek Zdrowia show. The programme thus appears to be gathering momentum, after getting off to a very slow start in April.
BGK, the state-owned bank that vets hospitals’ restructuring plans, is currently working on 27 applications, the vast majority of which were filed in the second half of December. Most are reportedly from Western Poland. Another spike is expected in March. According to sources cited by Parkiet, few commercialised hospitals are willing to sell a majority stake to private investors, but more entities may be inclined to allow in minority investors, especially amid unprecedented cuts in funding from the National Health Fund (NFZ). (Transformation into a commercial company allows hospitals to tap external sources of financing and opens the way for private sector involvement.)
Meanwhile, by 12 January the Health Ministry had received 17 applications for grants worth a combined PLN 65.6m (€16.2m). So far, four local governments have been awarded a total of PLN 42.5m (€10.5m) under the programme.
The government promotes commercialisation of public hospitals as a means of reducing debt and ensuring long-term financial efficiency of public healthcare entities. The ministry had originally estimated that some 400 hospitals could join the scheme over 2009-2011, and has asked MPs to set aside as much as PLN 2.7bn (€668m). But actual allocations were gradually pared down to PLN 1.15bn (€285m). The number of applications has been way below expectations, amid uncertainty about the programme’s procedures and financial future.