Gov't nods to planned university hospitals

?TK |

30 August 2012

Prague, Aug 29 (CTK) - The Czech government Wednesday approved the concept of the bill under which teaching hospitals would change their status and turn into university hospitals, a source close to the cabinet meeting told CTK.

The university hospitals are to be nonprofit, their privatisation would not be possible, and politicians would not influence their management, Health Minister Leos Heger (TOP 09) has proposed.

Under the university hospital bill that is to take effect in 2014, the director will be elected by an administrative board comprising representatives of the university, the region and the state. The supervisory board will have members representing the state, the university and the hospital staff.

The bill wants university hospitals to be controlled in a managerial way, namely that their heads would be clearly responsible for their financial operation.

Unlike in the past, the state would not subsidise the indebted hospitals and it would not bear the responsibility for unpaid debts.

A hospital will receive the university status once it signs an agreement with a medical faculty that has an accredited study programme.

A university hospital would be allowed to use the payments from health insurance companies only to cover the costs of health care services, including its modernisation and salaries of its staff. The costs of the practical lessons for medical students would be covered by the university.

The bill on university hospitals was originally prepared by former health minister Tomas Julinek (Civic Democrats, ODS) who wanted to make them joint-stock companies. Critics of the plan argued that this was a path towards the privatisation of teaching hospitals.

Nine teaching hospitals operate in the Czech Republic. The Health Ministry directly controls also three other hospitals, all seated in Prague.

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Source: http://praguemonitor.com/2012/08/30/govt-nods-planned-university-hospitals

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