National Health Service of Ukraine first reports on its activities and identifies top five regions by NHSU payments in Q3 2018

The National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) published the first report on its activities for July-September 2018. In the third quarter of 2018, the NHSU paid 161 PHC providers a total of UAH 819.8 million.

"When we started implementing changes, skeptics said that the reform would only work in major cities. What do we see now? Hromadas (united territorial communities) and small cities have become the true reform leaders. Currently, Balta in Odesa oblast, Chervonohrad in Lviv oblast, Selydove and Druzhkivka in Donetsk oblast, Ovruch and Nova Borova in Zhytomyr oblast, and many others communities are leaders by the number of patients’ declarations, as well as in terms of the quality of care provided to patients and the high level of salaries of doctors and medical staff. At the meantime, although Kyiv is the leader by the total amount of the NHSU payments, we have already received many complaints from citizens concerning procedural violations and non-compliance with relevant regulations. We are keeping a close eye on this situation and drawing the attention of the local authorities to every complaint," commented Pavlo Kovtoniuk, deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine.

The NHSU also identified the top five most active regions in terms of progress in implementing health reforms and switching to operating under the new healthcare financing model. The city of Kyiv ranked first with 30 PHC providers contracted by the NHSU during the ‘first wave’ having received a total of UAH 266.8 million in the third quarter of 2018.

Kyiv was followed by Vinnytsia, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, and Khmelnytskyi oblasts.

The five leaders by the total amount of the NHSU payments in Q3 2018 are as follows:

It is worth noting that no PHC provider from Volyn, Luhansk or Ternopil oblasts signed an agreement with the NHSU during the 'first wave'. Therefore, no health facilities in these oblasts received payments from the NHSU in the third quarter of 2018.

Starting October, 462 PHC providers (389 non-profit enterprises, 40 private PHC providers and 33 physicians-entrepreneurs), which signed agreements with the NHSU during the ‘second way’ in August, switch to operating under the new healthcare financing model.

In total, the NHSU has already signed agreements with 623 PHC providers serving about 23 million patients, more than 12 million of which have chosen their doctors.

By the end of this year, all PHC providers shall switch to independent management as non-profit enterprises, register in the eHealth system, provide services in full compliance with the approved Procedure and requirements, and sign an agreement with the NHSU. Starting 2019, 100% of payments for the actual primary care services rendered to patients will be made under the NHSU-funded contract-based age-adjusted capitation model.

The exact dates for the 'third wave' of signing the agreements between PHC providers and the NHSU will be announced in the near future.

Please follow the link to read the full report (in Ukrainian): http://nszu.gov.ua/files/Zvit_NSZU_01.10.2018_NEW.pdf