The healthcare system is a conservative system. Revolutionary actions in this direction, however, are particularly worrying and must be more careful. The clinical pathway is not a financial instrument, but a quality standard.
This was commented on by the new Minister of Health, Silvi Kirilov, to BNT.
He believes that one cannot talk about draining funds from clinical pathways from every hospital:
"...because in hospitals with a large volume of activity and great complexity of the activity, there are so-called clinical pathways that are not sufficiently valued. There are also requirements listed that are a quality standard. These people who go for a given procedure do not suffer from just one disease, they have concomitant diseases that aggravate the condition and pose different tasks, which in turn require additional financial resources and this must be taken into account."
This year's budget provides for the Health Insurance Fund to finance biomarkers.
"Biomarkers are indicators, factors that are necessary for predicting the therapeutic protocol. Until now, they were not financed by the fund, i.e. they were not paid for and the patients had to cover them themselves, which is still not affordable for all patients. And I think this is a good step towards increasing the accessibility of this study for all patients who need it. This is the first step,", explained Minister Kirilov.
He believes that it is not hospital beds that solve the problems in healthcare, but staff. In Bulgaria, doctors and healthcare specialists, because they are part of the team and without them a doctor cannot work, no matter how highly qualified, we have staff who can solve any treatment and diagnostic task.