In an article on the Ministry of Health Decree, we provide information on the percentages allocated to individual types of healthcare, with this Decree coming into effect on March 30, 2023. In 2023, the Ministry of Health will have a quarter more financial resources at its disposal than in the previous year, which is almost one million euros more. The annex to the Decree lists the individual types, the specified percentage of expenditure, and the minimum total amount in euros allocated to each type of healthcare. A link to the annex can be found at the end of the article.
The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "MZ SR") issued the long-awaited DECREE OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC of 28 March 2023, which establishes the percentage allocated to individual types of healthcare and the minimum total amount from the total amount of expenditure allocated to healthcare. March 2023, which establishes the percentage allocated to individual types of healthcare and the minimum total amount from the total expenditure allocated to healthcare in the budget for individual health insurance companies for 2023 (hereinafter also referred to as the "Decree").
Many entities operating in the healthcare sector, in particular the Association of Hospitals of Slovakia (ANS) and the outpatient sector, were awaiting the Decree, among other things due to the amendment of contracts with health insurance companies.
In this so-called redistribution Decree, pursuant to Section 15(8) of Act No. 581/2004 Coll. on health insurance companies, supervision of healthcare and amendments to certain acts, as amended, the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic stipulated:
a) the percentage of expenditure allocated to individual types of healthcare from the total amount of expenditure allocated to healthcare in the budget and the minimum total amount in euros allocated to individual types of healthcare for individual health insurance companies for 2023 – as specified in the Annex to the Decree
b) the percentage of expenditure under point (a) represents the percentage share of expenditure on a type of healthcare in the total expenditure of the health insurance company on healthcare specified in the budget for 2023
The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic also published on its website that the Decree implies that the health sector will have EUR 1.72 billion , i.e. 27% more financial resources than budgeted in 2022, which means that €950 millionmore should be spent on healthcare compared to 2022.
The Ministry of Health further states that the development of revenues and expenditures in healthcare in 2022 was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (expenditures related to economic mobilization, extraordinary allowances for difficult work in so-called COVID departments, the purchase of vaccines, the procurement of antigen tests, and the purchase of medicines, but also a renewed increase in healthcare utilization after the pandemic). COVID wards, the purchase of vaccines, antigen tests and medicines, as well as a renewed increase in healthcare consumption after the pandemic).
According to the Ministry of Health, the following factors were added to the base – expected reality for 2022:
- growth in expenditure without policy changes, which takes into account wage growth according to automatic wage indexation, inflation and growth in medicine consumption
- the impact of an aging population
- additional expenditures, such as the government-approved increase in wages for healthcare workers in institutional healthcare beyond the wage indexation
- support for innovative treatment
- support for long-term care.
When drawing up the budget, the following areas of healthcare were also quantified in which it would be possible to achieve better value for money: cost-effectiveness of medicines, support for the entry of generic and biosimilar medicines onto the Slovak market, reduction of unnecessary laboratory and imaging tests, and others.
The Ministry of Health states that total expenditure in the healthcare sector in 2023 should thus reach EUR 8.1 billion. This expenditure consists mainly of public health insurance expenditure, expenditure under the Ministry of Health chapter and funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Total public health insurance expenditure is expected to reach EUR 7 billion, of which EUR 6.8 billion will be spent directly on healthcare.
This amount is divided among the three health insurance companies according to their share of available resources, as specified in the Decree: Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa will have 63.87% of available resources at its disposal for healthcare, Dôvera 27.46% and Union 8.67%.
The Decree was published in the Collection of Laws of the Slovak Republic on March 30, 2023, and is effective as of that date. You can read it at https://www.slov-lex.sk/pravne-predpisy/SK/ZZ/2023/100/20230330
The annex to the Decree can be read at https://www.slov-lex.sk/pravne-predpisy/prilohy/SK/ZZ/2023/100/20230330_5520400-2.pdf
