Challenges and changes in the Polish healthcare system

The healthcare reform package submitted to the Polish parliament could lead to a radical and fundamental change in existing business models and in the rules on marketing activities. The most important provisions introduced by the new Reimbursement Act are: fixed markups and prices of reimbursed medicines, introduction of a pay-back system, risk-sharing mechanisms, tax on income from reimbursements, a maximum (total) reimbursement budget, new therapeutic and economic criteria for various levels of reimbursement. Undoubtedly the planned changes will improve the functioning of the reimbursement procedure by increasing the transparency of the process. Challenges facing health policy in Poland are not unique: similar have been identified in Hungary. Owing to the similarities between both countries in healthcare systems, clinical practice patterns and economic indicators, it seems to be reasonable to develop partnerships in creating relevant regional databases and registries, and in examination of the generalisability and transferability of health technology assessment findings.