The remuneration system for COVID-19 clinics has changed from March 1 and they are funded according to the actual expenditures, this means the clinics will no longer receive money according to the number of mobilized beds.
Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili considers the new remuneration model fair and notes, that the clinics receive as much funding from the state as they serve the number of patients.
“We financed the hospital sector with GEL 1 billion amid the pandemic. This is the amount and margin that existed during and after the pandemic. In our opinion, this is enough to choose the right business model. Today, up to 200 COVID patients are being treated across the country, and I do not agree with the model, which has provided funding for 9,000 beds, when the patient number does not exceed 200”, - Azrashvili said.
Giorgi Mindiashvili, director of Evex Hospitals declares that the sector needs rapid assistance. According to him, hospitals, which have been engaged in the management of COIVD-19, now need rehabilitation.
The director of Evex Hospitals names several specific reasons, which caused the financial crisis in the sector.
"Hospitals have been engaged in the management of COIVD-19 for 2 years, now they have to launch everything from the very beginning, as all services should be developed afresh. If the hospital starts operating in an ordinary mode, the state will pay the performance fee in 4 months, while the salaries should be paid on time. We are talking about tens of millions of GEL, which we will need to subsidize in this case.
The situation has worsened since 2019 with Resolution 520. Tariffs that apply are completely unprofitable. We were subsidized by shareholder equity, or outpatient diagnostic services. Outpatient diagnostic services had high-profit margin and that was so during the Covid-19. Now the sector is left with only universal healthcare tariffs. Including the 520 Resolution, which is unprofitable itself," he said.
According to Dimitri Jorbenadze, the director of Aversi Clinic, the hospital healthcare system operates with the old tariffs, which must be reviewed.
As he explains with Forbes Health, if the same tariffs remain, clinics will find it difficult to provide quality medical care to the patients.
"The hospital health care system operates with tariffs of 2012-2013 and they have not been revised after this period. When the universal healthcare program started, we were allowed to make a 10% price tag on the existing historical minimum and this historical minimum was the tariffs set in 2010-2011. Today, we are practically working with those tariffs. When we worked with private insurance companies (the previous government health care was a different model), all the money was mobilized in private insurance companies and financing was done from there. Tariffs were much lower”, - Jorbenadze said.
Removal of the COVID-management regime has caused liquidity problems in a number of clinics, - Zurab Kitoshvili, the executive director of "Geo Hospitals" told Forbes Health.
He names two main challenges for clinics.
"The transfer of funding, which existed from the state during the high workload, is still valid today. The debtors represented by the state are gradually repaid and this process continues. However, the failure that exists in parallel with all the challenges today will have an active impact in the near future. In particular, the financial resources that were generated during that period are now being spent and it may be necessary to mobilize additional capital to save this resource in the long run. Therefore, it further deepens the challenges of the sector.
The second challenge, we are facing is a high outflow of staff outside the sector. We are talking about low-paid staff, which are leaving our field. Therefore, it is fundamentally important to set a new tariff policy as soon as possible. Otherwise, the industry will be left without staff who will find relevant work outside the sector in other industries," he added.
