The Health Policy March 2025 issue features a study co-authored by Dr. Péter Gaál, President of MEMT. The research examined payment practices in primary, outpatient, and inpatient care within the publicly funded systems of Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
Output-based financing dominates across all countries, with the greatest variation found in primary care. Over the past 13 years, primary and inpatient care payment systems have changed most frequently, mainly through refinements of existing methods and the introduction of performance-based incentives.
Shared reform goals include better aligning tariffs with actual costs, expanding primary care (with emphasis on prevention, care coordination, and multidisciplinary approaches), shifting focus from inpatient to outpatient care, and improving hospital efficiency.
The study highlights the strong potential for cross-country learning in provider payment reforms, provided that systematic evaluations are available. The research was supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office under the National Laboratory for Health Security project.
The full article is available at the following link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016885102500017X?via%3Dihub