The Hungarian government recently published a draft legislation signalling a significant transformation in the organisation of health care supply chains by further centralising hospital procurements. This draft law amends Government Decree No. 43/1999 (III. 3.) on the detailed rules on financing health care services from the Health Insurance Fund and Government Decree No. 516/2020 (XI. 25.) on the tasks of the National Directorate General for Hospitals (Draft).
The proposed changes in the Draft restructures the current model for supplying medical equipment to state health care institutions. A central warehouse is planned for the Hungarian city of Páty, which will serve as the main hub for distributing essential medical equipment and consumables to relevant health care providers across the country.
The centralisation of certain consumables will serve as an initial step in the implementation of government centralisation plans, which is intended to streamline procurement and distribution processes and increase efficiency and transparency within the health care system.
Key issues introduced by the Draft
The Draft states that the National Directorate General for Hospitals (OKFŐ) will “operate a central consumable stock”.
The Draft also lays down the following rules on the financing and accounting of hospital procurements of consumables:
- The OKFŐ will prepare a monthly list of claims for consumables purchased through public procurement for the health care service provider it maintains and will sends it to the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary (NEAK).
- When transferring the amount of funds to the health care institution, NEAK will transfer to the health care institution the amount reduced by the claim amount based on data provided by OKFŐ as stated above. The amount corresponding to the claim must be remitted directly to OKFŐ.
- If the OKFŐ claim exceeds 10% of the amount of the financing due to the given health care institution, the settlement of the OKFŐ claim can take place in instalments, not exceeding 10% of the amount of the monthly financing of the given health care institution.
Next steps
The Draft has not been officially accepted so it is possible that the text described above will be amended.
The exact scope of the “consumables” affected by the Draft still needs to be clarified by the legislator. The legislative background suggests that it will include the consumables that are already subject to centralised procurement under Government Decree No. 168/2004. (V. 25.). This, however, is not specified in the Draft and clarification is expected.
Law-Now will closely follow this legislative process given its importance on the Hungarian Life Sciences and Healthcare sector.
For more information on this Draft, contact your CMS client partner or CMS experts: Dóra Petrányi / Veronika Kovács / Klaudia Székely.
The article was co-authored by Dalma Sipőcz and Lili Benyovszki.
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