The idea of changing the management and legal form of the three university clinical hospitals has been brewing for a long time. Now, the bill developed by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with industry representatives has been submitted to the Saeima.
It proposes to transform hospitals from capital companies into public entities, as this will give medical institutions greater autonomy and allow them not to focus on profit. Additional funding will be required to implement the changes.
One of the goals of the bill is to streamline the legal status of the Children’s Clinical University Hospital (CCUH), the Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital (RECUH), and the Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (PSCUH) in accordance with their actual role, explained the State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Agnes Valuliene, at a meeting of the Saeima's Social and Labor Affairs Committee, adding that the changes will also benefit patients by ensuring greater accessibility to services.
Until now, hospitals operated as capital companies, that is, as commercial structures, which does not correspond to the essence of state medical institutions that fulfill state orders. Although making a profit or at least ensuring break-even should not be their priority task, the current status effectively obliges them to do so.
The working group that prepared the reform considered several scenarios, including maintaining the previous format or creating a consortium. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages; however, the model of a derivative public entity has the most advantages, as it provides hospitals with greater autonomy and the state, as the service purchaser, with more opportunities to control the fulfillment of assigned tasks. The changes will allow for clearer relationships between the state, hospitals, and universities, contributing to the training of young specialists and improving the level of public health in the country as a whole.
"Large university hospitals will continue to be the core of inpatient healthcare, where critical profile services are available, including rare ones or those used in particularly complex cases," Valuliene explained.
