50 PLN for a visit to a doctor on the National Health Fund. New plan: the appointment is gone - the money too

• As part of the petition addressed to the Ministry of Health, the author proposes imposing on patients, among others, a registration fee or a deposit fee
• I also suggest that patients have the option to cancel their visit in several ways, e.g. by e-mail or text message.
• So far, no similar solutions have been introduced in the case of non-cancellation of visits.

In a petition addressed to the Ministry of Health regarding the fight against uncancelled doctor visits, the author proposes taking an appropriate legislative initiative.

Patients have the option to cancel their visit via telephone reminder as a confirmation of the visit, via text message as a confirmation of the visit, by e-mail, via the contact form, chat, but also in person – the author points out.

At the same time, he put forward the following proposals:

• the patient is subject to a registration fee of PLN 50, which is refundable after the visit (like the amount of the contract security or deposit) in tender procedures;
• the deposit fee for not canceling the visit may be:

- first time: PLN 50.00

- second time: PLN 100.00

• the registration fee increases in the event of failure to cancel a visit to a given service provider or to all service providers via the P1 system (the first time PLN 50, the second time PLN 100);
• the management of the service provider for not carrying out a visit without notifying about the impossibility of arriving may notify law enforcement agencies about the possibility of committing a crime under Article 160 of the Penal Code

Let us recall: in Poland, the issue of uncancelled medical visits is not regulated by law: the Act on health care services financed from public funds obliges the patient to immediately notify the facility of the inability to attend the visit.

Data from the National Health Fund show that approximately 1.3 million doctor visits were not canceled in 2023 , which is a significant increase compared to previous years.

Uncancelled doctor visits:

• they generate more and more financial losses,
• contribute to the creation of artificial queues,
• extend the waiting time for visits.

Currently, the only consequence of a patient not showing up is being moved to the end of the waiting list. For now, the Ministry of Health has no plans to introduce fees for missed appointments, arguing that it could have a negative impact on people in difficult financial situations and limit access to services.

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