X European Economic Congress

On May 14-16, 2018, the 10th European Economic Congress took place in Katowice. It was the largest business event in Central and Eastern Europe, which gathered nearly 11,5 thousand guests and 900 speakers.

During the Congress, there was also a session entitled "Financing health systems - review of solutions, recommendations", which was co-organized by the American Heart of Poland. The discussion was attended by: Zbigniew J Król MD (Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Health), Andrzej Sośnierz (Deputy Chairman of the Health Committee), prof. Paweł Buszman MD PhD (Chief Executive Officer, American Heart of Poland), Wojciech Kozłowski (Legal Counsel, Partner in Dentons), Mariusz Wołosz (Vice Chairman of the Board, Association of District Hospitals in Silesian Voivedeship), Wojciech Zawalski (Healthcare Expert). The debate was moderated by Wojciech Kuta (Editor in Chief, Rynek Zdrowia).

Among the discussed topics we could find: issues of financing the healthcare system in Poland, including the share of private expenses for treatment, as well as issues related to healthcare financing models and the commercial health insurance market in Poland. A lively discussion was sparked by the issue of ensuring the quality of medical services in Poland. Prof. Paweł Buszman convinced the participants that the increase in expenditure on health care planned up to 2025 (up to 6% of GDP) will not significantly improve the situation of patients if we don’t improve the quality of medical services, base our expenses on reliable and up-to-date data, and include private centers in the network of hospitals.