Over the past few years, there has been an active increase in the excess activity of hospitals in our country - a larger volume of medical care is reported compared to the forecast, which is paid for by the Health Insurance Fund. With the abolition of the limits in 2024, this activity will reach 400 million leva. This was explained in an interview for "Horizont" by lawyer Plamen Taushanov, who is a representative of patient organizations in the Supervisory Board of the Health Insurance Fund. We contacted him in connection with the hospital care limits that have come into force. These restrictions are unconstitutional, recalled lawyer Silvia Velichkova from the Association for the Development of Bulgarian Healthcare. She is a lawyer in cases for the cancellation of the limits, representing the Association of Private Hospitals.
The limit is an estimated value, determined by unclear criteria, of how much a medical facility should work per month – the definition is by lawyer Silvia Velichkova.
"The workload of a medical facility depends on unpredictable factors. Patients look for medical facilities for which there are good reviews. Those that offer good service are busy and this should be the principle".
According to lawyer Plamen Taushanov, the estimated volumes of activities of a given hospital are determined according to what was done in the previous year or in the last three months of the year. This may also include new activities permitted to the hospital. According to him, last year and this year, about 60 new activities have already been permitted in various medical facilities in our country. The return of the limits means that the Fund will not pay for medical care above the volumes and values specified in the individual contracts.
"It will limit this so-called over-limit activity, which last year was about 400 million – about ten percent of the budget of medical institutions. Such over-limit activity has never existed".