Maturity Assessment Process - Poland

The organisation responsible for the self-assessment process is:

• National Health Fund, Poland. Stakeholders represent the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) facilities of all regions in Poland.

The region

The assessment of Maturity in the Polish example was made at national level. The population of Poland is 38 million citizens. National Health Fund (NFZ), Poland is a state institution that finances healthcare benefits from contributions paid by people insured in the NFZ. Governance of the healthcare system is divided between the Minister of Health (and supporting institutions) and three levels of territorial self-government.

The challenges facing the Polish healthcare system share some similarities with other Scirocco Exchange partners. The three main causes of death are: Cardiovascular diseases, cancer and injuries.

Coordinated care is planned to be implemented in Poland based on solutions developed in the pilot project "Preparation, testing and implementation of coordinated care in the healthcare system, Stage II. Pilot phase – Primary Care PLUS model” co-financed from the European Social Fund under the Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development under the European Commission Priority Axis 4 and 5.

Project Primary Care PLUS is primary healthcare model which covers the scope of primary care (POZ), selected outpatient specialised care and ambulatory physiotherapy.

Maturity Assessment for Integrated Care

The local stakeholders were identified from the group of Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) in Poland that take part in Primary Care PLUS pilot project.

The overall outcomes show that primary care in Poland is making significant progress in all dimensions, but mostly due to the fact that PHC take part in a pilot project POZ PLUS that generates new pathways, adopts new solutions, and forces cooperation between primary and specialised care.

The maturity assessment process comprised two separate stages, both fully completed in the Polish language. Due to the work taking place during the period of the COVID-19 response, the consensus workshops were completed virtually.

a) Phone interviews carried by NHF’s employees, completed by each of the selected stakeholders separately; and

b) Consensus-building workshop with an objective to reach consensus across all 12 dimensions of the SCIROCCO Exchange Maturity Model and agree a final spider diagram in 3 groups of stakeholders according to their size.

Strengths identified through the Maturity Assessment process

• The overall outcomes show that primary care in Poland is making significant progress in all dimensions, but mostly due to the fact that PHC take part in a pilot project POZ PLUS that generates new pathways, adopts new solutions, and forces cooperation between primary and specialised care.

Weaknesses identified through the Maturity Assessment process

The dimensions which the process has shown as requiring further work are: "Process Coordination”, “Digital infrastructure” and “Citizen Empowerment”.

However, during 2019, Poland introduced a national e-solution referring to every patient called IKP – Individual Patient Account, where every patient has access to historic data on healthcare services reimbursed by National health Fund, e-prescriptions ordered, e-referrals and planned visits to doctors, which strengthens patient empowerment.

Figure 1. Group consensus-diagram for small-size Primary Healthcare Centres

Figure 2. Group consensus-diagram for medium-size Primary Healthcare Centres

Figure 3. Group consensus-diagram for large-size Primary Healthcare Centres

The spider diagrams illustrates the outcomes of the final consensus on the maturity for integrated care in Poland NFZ. The SCIROCCO Exchange Tool and self-assessment process has allowed understanding of the current level maturity of Primary Healthcare Centres in integrated care. The assessment of primary healthcare providers in Poland reflects the actual state in healthcare system, scoring 3 or 4 in all dimensions.

The stakeholders valued the maturity assessment process and agreed that the process should be performed once again after implementation of integrated care solutions achieved throughout the pilot project POZ PLUS.

The final report which will provide much more detailed information about the region and the process is available to download in the Maturity Assessment Reports section in Resources.