Filenews 8 February 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
Almost all citizens visited their personal doctor, more than half a million secured their medicines through the General Health System, around half a million underwent laboratory tests over 18 months and tens of thousands received inpatient care in just six months.
"The value of the GHS was demonstrated during this period during which, due to the pandemic, public hospitals were mostly committed to the care of patients with coronavirus but at the same time, the private sector was ready and served and continues to serve Cypriot citizens for all other health problems they face," Health Insurance Agency director Andreas Papakonstantinou said in a statement. , adding that "and the contribution of our doctors and especially personal doctors to the management of the pandemic and in particular to the monitoring of their beneficiaries infected with the coronavirus, proves valuable for the whole effort".
The statistical data recorded in the GHS software" demonstrate what we are saying," the director of the OAC said, stressing that "in only six months, from the day of the integration of inpatient care into the System, until the end of the year, tens of thousands of our fellow citizens have received relevant services".
The figures prove the truth, since during the first 18 months of application of the System:
• 853,422 citizens, almost the entire population of Cyprus, registered with the GHS and joined lists of personal doctors.
• 754,440 beneficiaries visited their personal doctor at least once.
• 574,007 beneficiaries visited and received services from the system's specialist doctors.
• 333,080 beneficiaries underwent diagnostic tests.
• 606,083 beneficiaries, secured their medicines through the GHS.
• 523,679 beneficiaries underwent laboratory tests.
• 43,448 beneficiaries received inpatient care services from the hospitals of the GHS (as of 1 June 2020).
The services of the GHS, said Mr Papakonstantinou, "have now been extended since since 1 December, our dentists, nurses of general nursing and mental health nursing and other professionals have joined the System". The rate at which professionals are trained in the system and the rate at which the procedures for their accession to the GHS are promoted, "is admittedly slow. However, we seem to have interest from all professional groups and this allows us to be optimistic that in the short term, our beneficiaries will have more options at their disposal."
The GHS has 2,482 doctors
Eighteen months after its implementation, and despite the negative climate that prevailed in the pre-GHSY era, mainly due to the negative attitude of the Cyprus Medical Association, the vast majority of doctors in Cyprus have joined the GHS.
The System currently has 2,482 doctors, including 1,745 specialist doctors of all medical specialties, 541 personal doctors for adults and the remaining 196 personal doctors for children (paediatricians).
At the same time, the GHS offers services through 147 laboratories, 534 pharmacies and 54 private hospitals, on a pancyprian scale.
1408 applications were submitted, the procedure for 849
According to the official data of the OSU, by last Monday, they had joined the System and began to offer their services to the beneficiaries of the General Health System, a total of 849 professionals, of all professional groups.
- A total of 65 applications were received by clinical psychologists, and the procedure was completed for 22.
- From clinical dietitians, 111 applications were submitted, and 47 were completed.
- 32 applications have been submitted by occupational therapists, but the procedure for none of them has been completed since they are employees of the State Health Services Agency and will be integrated through the Agency itself.
- Physiotherapists, 565 people applied and the procedure was completed for 402.
- Only 4 applications have been submitted by speech therapists, two of which have been approved.
- An application for membership in the GHS was submitted by 97 nurses and the procedure was completed for 50.
- Applications were submitted by 534 dentists and the procedure for 326 was completed.
The relatively reduced number of professionals for whom the procedures have been completed is largely due to the fact that, although the relevant lists have been 'opened' for registration since November, in practice interest began to officially manifest itself at the beginning of December. This is because the negotiations of the bodies representing these professional sectors continued until the last minute. In fact, consultations between the Health Insurance Agency and the bodies they represent, speech therapists, occupational therapists and midwives are still pending. That is why the figures in these three specialties are much lower. In the case of midwives, some final decisions and announcements on their final service package are pending.
In addition, the pace of completion of procedures is slowing down and due to the fact that several health professionals submit incomplete applications, it leads to longer delays.
In total, in Cyprus, around 3,000 professionals of the seven specific specialties are active, which makes the work of the THY even more difficult.
In April, changes for personal doctors
The budget is not reduced but remains stable
The implementation of any changes that arise, after consultation with the scientific companies involved and will concern the way personal doctors operate within the GHS and how they are compensated, will be implemented, according to the calculations of the Health Insurance Agency, in April.
According to Mr Papakonstantinou, "these are arrangements aimed at reallocating resources on the basis of more qualitative criteria than those originally decided.
The budget for the remuneration of personal doctors, stressed "remains the same", however, "the redistribution promoted is part of the effort to strengthen the institution of the personal doctor".
Initially, he explained, "we had agreed per capita pay. That is, if a doctor is paid for each patient 100 euros these 100 will be taken because the patient is listed and not on the basis of any other criteria. Now with the changes being promoted, and I stress that these changes are based on the original design of the GHS which in the process had changed, the EUR 70 will be taken by the doctor for the same reason, i.e. according to the number of beneficiaries on his list, and the rest on the basis of quality criteria".
These qualitative criteria, he added, "as an outline have been defined but we are still in the process of more detailed processing them." By "quality criteria, we mean, for example, the "behaviour" of the doctor within the System. If his behaviour, his referrals are at the acceptable rates then he will get 30 or even 40 euros per patient. If it has a negative deviation then it will get 20 euros."
From the experience of the last few months, he said, "and after some regulations that have been implemented and aimed at reducing the complaints issued by our personal doctors to specialist doctors, we find that we can achieve our goal." This is because, "while we initially found through the system that our personal doctors issued referrals for about 70% of their beneficiaries, then this percentage fell significantly and now we see that our doctors refer only 4 out of 10 of their beneficiaries to specialist doctors and not 6 or 8 as they used to".
This finding, he said in conclusion, "is particularly important both for the GHS itself and for our own doctors who have often, in the past, come under fire from some who have argued that they are not working and are simply issuing complaints. With the improvement that already appears, an answer is given to those who did not recognize the work of our personal doctors, which also satisfies the doctors of the GHS themselves".
