Expert Discussion on Public Procurement of Medical Technologies in Hospitals in Poland by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna
Karolina Skóra, COO at Arcana Institute, recently participated in a panel discussion on the procurement of medical technologies for hospitals. The discussion was hosted and led by Polish newspaper Daily Legal Newspaper (Dziennik Gazeta Prawna) and included topics on:
- Changes in the financing of healthcare from the perspective of medical technology suppliers
- Public procurement reform – what changes do we expect in the newly prepared law?
- Non-price criteria for procurement assessment
- Access to innovative medical technologies
Value based procurement is becoming a more commonly adopted strategy in hospitals around the world, however, hospitals in Poland have yet to implement such a strategy for medical technologies. During the discussion, Karolina commented on the shortcomings of the procurement system in Poland and emphasized the growing need for value based procurement and HTA in hospitals.
Currently, hospitals in Poland operate on a price-based approach for public procurement of medical technologies, where the most important criteria is price, followed by time of delivery and warranty conditions. While some hospitals take a technology’s life cycle costs into consideration, there is no consideration given to health outcomes, an area in which hospitals in Poland lack experience. Furthermore, a large number of hospital directors in Poland do not have sufficient competency in HTA to evaluate a technology, including its safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness as well as any further impacts and consequences to the hospital and beyond. Overall, the current approach is limited to price and does not incorporate a technology’s quality, patient outcomes or total costs to a hospital.
With clear disadvantages in the current procurement approach, Karolina advocated for value based procurement in Poland’s hospitals. Such an approach would bring Poland’s hospitals up to par with the international community and be advantageous to the hospital itself by allowing it to select a technology that offers the best health outcomes and the best value.
A full PDF article of the discussion prepared by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (Issue 11 Dec 2017, No. 239, 4638) can be accessed by clicking on the image below.
