Power Breakfast „Sustainability of the Health Care System in Croatia“

On March 19, 2019, AmCham hosted a Power Breakfast on the topic "Sustainability of the Health Care System in Croatia".

The keynote speech at the event was delivered by prof. Milan Kujundžić, MD, PhD, Minister of Health. In his speech, the Minister briefly reflected on the efforts and accomplishments of the Government and the Ministry of Health in ensuring sustainability of the healthcare system in Croatia, plans for the upcoming period, and the biggest challenges that the system is facing. Among other projects, the Minister mentioned the National Children's Hospital in Zagreb, the National program against cancer and the National program for early detection of lung cancer, a project for modernizing the emergency system and training of medical teams, and the project for the organization and establishment of a helicopter service to be financed by EU funds. In his speech, he also commented on Croatia's success in withdrawing EU funds for the health system in general, stressing that the country's success in this respect puts it at the top of the list among EU Member States. The Minister also touched upon the topic of expensive medicinal products, stressing that "the Minister should not make a decision on who will get a particular medicine", but that the decision should take into account the opinions of the medical profession. The Minister also emphasized that securing the funds that will provide Croatian citizens with access to state-of-the-art innovations in the pharmaceutical field is a constant challenge for the health system and for the Ministry.

After the keynote speech, there was a panel discussion on the topic of healthcare system sustainability, with included Mr. Željko Plazonić, MD, State Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr. Ljubiša Mitof-Višurski, General Manager Adria Region & Croatia, AbbVie, Ms. Ana Bobinac, PhD, Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka and Mr. Marijan Kralj, Board Member, Croatia osiguranje. The panel was moderated by Ms. Jelka Drašković, Director, Public Policy and Patient Engagement Central Eastern Europe and Balkan, Merck, Sharp & Dohme.

Mr. Plazonić highlighted the need for a paradigm shift and the change in the way of thinking about using the services of the health care system - which is still perceived as free in Croatia, despite requiring a significant amount of funding. He highlighted the need to put citizens at the centre of the system and to encourage solidarity at the benefit of all system users, concluding that such a broad "project" goes beyond the mandate of a single Government.

Mr. Kralj pointed out that the private health insurance system can be a good complement to the public health care system and that there is significant room for further development in this area. He highlighted the importance of the role of Government in this - among other things though measures such as tax deductions, which are currently not recognized for this type of services, and through the general tax and contributions system - in securing incentivising conditions for the growth of the private insurance market. He also highlighted the potential of separating the costs of health care system on treatment costs and administrative costs, which would allow for easier identification of opportunities to increase economic efficiency of the latter.

Mr. Mitof-Višurski also pointed out the importance of the tax system and added that even relatively minor steps, such as clearly defining the basic list of services and education and raising beneficiaries’ awareness on the issue of moral hazard, in line with AmCham’s last year’s recommendations, can produce a significant positive effect.

The panellists agreed that it is important to know the good practices of other countries and systems, such as those of the Netherlands, but that we should at the same time not copy, but rather adjust and customize the existing good practice to the needs of the Croatian system.