On Monday 18 December 2023, a working meeting of representatives of the Ministry with representatives of relevant health sector entities was held at the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic: Health Insurance Association, Health Insurance Association, Association of Hospitals of Slovakia, Association of State Hospitals and Health Care Supervisory Authority. The topic was the optimisation of the hospital network, which is launched on 1 January 2024.
Coordination and preparation for change and the fulfilment of essential tasks were the subject of the working meeting. The representatives of the partners agreed that the common aim of the health sector was to gradually implement the reform of the hospital network so that, as of 2025, all key processes were operational, transparent and understandable.
From 1 January 2024 the collection of waiting lists will also begin and from 1 January 2025 the patient will be entitled to health care management within the time limits set in the current Categorisation Order.
At the meeting with partners, the Ministry of Health communicated a timetable for the implementation of waiting lists, which aims to enable the collection of relevant data by a uniform methodology in 2024. At the same time, to correct procedural and technical errors so that from 1 January 2025 all participants are prepared to claim the patient's earlier performance date if the maximum time limit defined by the Ordinance on the categorisation of institutional healthcare is exceeded.
The Ministry amended this decree, the proposal is still in the legislative process. The amendment to the Decree shall be valid by 31 December 2023 at the latest and effective by 1 January 2024.
The Decree, together with an explanatory document on it, will also be made available on the website of the Ministry in machine-processing form and processed in a simpler form on the websitewww.sietnemocnic.skwhich will also serve as the main information channel on the optimisation of the hospital network. Websitewww.sietnemocnic.skis already open to candidates. An informative algorithm is also available for including hospitalization cases in medical services according to the new system.
Level I hospitals were also allowed to provide additional level II programmes for 2024 as optional programmes, which means that it is possible for the health insurance company to contract the programmes for 2024. It was decided by the Categorisation Commission for Institutional Healthcare on the basis of a complaint from the Association of Hospitals of Slovakia.
Each year hospitals may request a transfer to a higher or lower level or a supplementary programme, and may do so by 30 April in 2024.
The Health Care Supervisory Authority will also take into account the start-up period for the beginning of 2024 also in the retrospective assessment.
Optimising the network of hospitals and the associated changes in systems should bring about a higher quality of healthcare provided to the patient. This is the biggest change in recent years and its implementation requires the synergy of several players. The Ministry of Health would therefore like to thank all partners for their cooperation so far.