Will the hospitals be able to balance business?

The Ministry of Health in Slovenia has completed its handover process, revealing a comprehensive assessment of both its operational and financial status under the new mandate led by Minister Dr. Tadej Ostrc. The minister presented findings indicating a baseline for evaluating the success of future measures. During the review, multiple open procedures before the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union were identified, including one concerning the regulation of pharmacy activities. The ministry has already submitted responses to the European Commission and committed to preparing necessary legislative changes to prevent further proceedings and potential financial consequences for Slovenia. Delays in accessing European funds have been highlighted in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (European funds). Analysis indicates that due to delays and procedural inconsistencies in the project for a new Infectious Diseases Clinic, it will not be possible to fully access the planned European funds. Instead of the anticipated approximately 55 million euros, current estimates suggest around 35 million euros can be accessed, which is 20 million euros less than originally planned. Significant delays in implementing legislation have also been noted. The ministry identified substantial shortcomings in the execution of legislation, with only six of the 20 planned subordinate acts for implementing the Healthcare Activities Act having been adopted. As a result, parts of the law cannot be fully implemented in practice. More than a year has passed since extraordinary professional inspections ceased due to legislative changes, prompting the ministry to begin establishing conditions for their resumption. The most pressing challenge is the financial situation. Upon taking over, the ministry discovered a discrepancy of approximately 200 million euros between assumed obligations and allocated budget resources. Part of this shortfall stems from insufficient funding for obligations towards the Slovenian Health Insurance Institute (ZZZS), while another portion arises from the difference between assumed obligations and available resources per individual budget item. Public hospitals have incurred losses, with the ministry reporting that public hospitals generated a loss of 21.7 million euros in the first five months of this year. If trends remain unchanged and no additional measures are taken, the total deficit could reach between 80 and 100 million euros by the end of the year. Consequently, the ministry will request the management of public healthcare institutions to prepare stabilization plans to stabilize operations, while also reviewing criteria for paying performance-based bonuses to hospital management. A threefold increase in funding for non-governmental organizations and societies has also been observed. Funding for these entities has risen from approximately four to over 12 million euros annually in recent years. The ministry will examine the effectiveness, purposefulness, and transparency of the expenditure of these funds. Requests for specific information regarding which non-governmental organizations received increased funding were met with instructions to submit such requests according to the Access to Public Information Act. These requests have been sent, and once responses are received, they will be published. On the increased funding for non-governmental organizations, Dr. Rok Ravnikar, a physician on social media, pointed out that 12 million euros is equivalent to the annual cost of 50 family medicine clinics. These would serve 100,000 patients throughout the year. He explained that one family medicine clinic, with all staff, costs and services covered by the Slovenian Health Insurance Institute, amounts to 240,000 euros annually. He expressed frustration upon reading figures distributed through numerous tenders for unspecified purposes, often in tens of thousands of euros. He described the applications and reports as frequently enriched with references in the style of LinkedIn and AI-generated reports on successful projects, while he imagines the actual applications and reports filled with such descriptions.