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Croatia Currently Lacks 2600 Doctors

More than 700 participants from the healthcare, IT, pharmaceutical, and insurance sectors attended the fourth Hospital Days conference organized by IN2. The first day of the conference featured over 30 presentations, discussing 8 highly relevant health and technology topics, ranging from hospital management and new technologies in healthcare to the status of healthcare workers and nurses, as well as updates in the field of eHealth.

After the ceremonial opening in the thematic block on Hospital Management, the example of KBC Rijeka stood out, which has been operating positively during 2015, with good results presented by the recovery manager Davor Štimac. His presentation highlighted the advantages of the new hospital business system introduced on January 1, 2015, which anticipates payment for hospital services after execution, meaning that hospital revenues directly depend on the execution of services and the achievement of performance and quality indicators.

Panelists at the round table “Financial Sustainability of Hospitals in the Current Funding Model,” Zoran Bahtijarević, recovery manager of the Children’s Hospital Zagreb, Sven Kurbel, recovery manager of KBC Osijek, Danko Velimir Vrdoljak, recovery manager of KBC Sestre Milosrdnice, and Davor Katavić, deputy director of HZZO, agreed that payment by execution is a good option, but they believe that the newly introduced system needs further work, especially regarding the alignment of coefficients for individual hospital services.

In the thematic block on New Technologies in Healthcare, the emphasis was on shared services and the cloud. APIS IT presented the Shared Service Center project, which has established APIS IT as the central place for consolidating all information infrastructure of the state administration. Elena Bonfiglioli, director in the healthcare industry sector at Microsoft, presented Microsoft’s cloud services in healthcare, while representatives of Hrvatski Telekom showcased what digital healthcare in the cloud might look like in the future. At the round table on the topic “Approaches to the Informatization of the Public Sector – from Open Market to State Service Provider,” panelists from the public and private sectors agreed that informatization can only be implemented with the cooperation of all stakeholders in the process, but also that a good step has been made in the right direction – towards the digitalization and informatization of Croatia, which is the ultimate goal.

In the thematic block on Healthcare Workers at the round table “Are We Facing a Doctor Exodus?” a lively discussion arose about the status of doctors in Croatia. Representatives of the profession pointed out that the EU average is 3.4 doctors per 1000 patients, while in Croatia this ratio is 2.9 per 1000, meaning that the system lacks almost 2600 doctors. The president of the Croatian Medical Chamber, Trpimir Goluža, emphasized that the first step in addressing the issue of doctors leaving for abroad is to establish a constructive dialogue with the state administration to work on improving the status of doctors in society.

The topic of eHealth, as one of the most current IT/healthcare topics, was discussed in two thematic blocks. Participants had the opportunity to hear about the Danish model, which is considered one of the most advanced, and to compare Croatian experiences with those from Serbia and Slovenia. Updates were also presented regarding the eHospital and eOrdering projects, as well as the results of the eNewborn pilot project. The exhibition space showcased the latest IT innovations for healthcare, and for the first time, companies from Denmark, Romania, Germany, and Spain exhibited alongside Croatian exhibitors.