Estonian Health Insurance Fund to order private doctor services for EUR 41 mln for 2019

  • 2018-08-29
  • LETA/TBT Staff

TALLINN – Starting from October 1, a new three-year contract period will start for the chosen specialized medical care partners of the Estonian Health Insurance Fund and as a result of a public procurement, private doctors will provide care for patients in the amount of 41 million euros next year.

Private clinics were very interested in the procurement as specialized medical care offers were made by 132 medical institutions in 337 fields and in 143 locations. The management board of the Health Insurance Fund will confirm the results of the tender in September, after which contracts will be signed with the partners who made the cut, the Health Insurance Fund said.

In addition to the 20 hospitals of the Hospital Network Development Plan, the Health Insurance Fund is to also sign contracts with other healthcare institutions that among other things offer optometry, gynecology, psychiatry or dermatology services, for example. These institutions complement the services offered by the hospitals of the Hospital Network Development Plan and give people an additional opportunity to receive specialized medical care.

According to Maivi Parv, member of the the Health Insurance Fund's management board, the most important thing for the Health Insurance Fund is to ensure the patients have the possibility of choosing a specialist closest to them, regardless of whether they work at a large hospital or a private clinic. "As a result of the tender, family doctors who direct people to a specialist will also continue to have a wider choice of cooperation partners. Thus, the role of the specialists funded with the aid of the tender and the volume of services may increase even further in the future," Parv said.

In order to find additional specialized medical care contract partners, the Health Insurance Fund organized a public tender, which assessed the quality and accessibility of the healthcare service on offer, the bidder's law abidance so far and among other things the discount from the price list of the Health Insurance Fund. A final decision between partners that were equal in all assessment criteria was made by way of drawing lots, which is the usual way for determining successful chosen partners in a tender. Altogether 12 occasions of drawing lots were carried out in four regions.

In addition to specialized medical care, the Health Insurance Fund also has ongoing public tenders for signing contracts in nursing care and disease prevention.