Spain health system tends to a mixed public private partnership formula

-Experts point out that in recent years there has been a growing role of private initiative in the health system in Spain, what her closer to the European model

– in a session that has taken place within the framework of the celebration of the cardiovascular diseases Congress of 2011 SEC, various European experts have highlighted that European health systems tend to resemble more and more and that the key is to bet for greater flexibility and efficiency

-En Spain, indicate that still crawls a certain inertia and stiffness in the national health system, which degenerates in lack of productivity and resolution in the face of the patient

Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), 2011-October the society Spanish Cardiology (SEC), within the framework of the Congress of the cardiovascular diseases SEC 2011, which was held this weekend in Maspalomas (Gran Canaria), has addressed one of the main issues currently dealt with in our country in reference to health policy: the pros and cons of having a national health service, public or private, and the trend that follows Spain in relation to other European countries.

For this purpose, during the celebration of the Congress of the SEC, which brought together some 4,000 cardiologists throughout Spain, international experts and medical professionals from other specialties, held a round table, under the title ‘ approaches and differences in private and public healthcare systems in Europe ’which have brought together experts from different nationalities to outline the differences and similarities of public and private health systems in some countries of the European Union, with the aim of improving the knowledge of participants on how Italy health systems are designedGermany, England, and Spain, to then be able to extract some lessons to progress and to optimize results.

One of the main conclusions that have been learned is that the health systems of most developed countries of Europe resemble more and more. in addition to sharing a model based on the existence of national systems of health (with the national service for English health as a reference), now also copied and share private management initiatives. In any case, the Chairman of the SEC, Dr. Carlos Macaya, believes the current aim is identical: encourage flexibility and, above all, increase the efficiency ”.

In general, explains the Chairman of the SEC, European health systems tend to appear more and more, mainly because not only are they based on national health systems, but they offer universal coverage or almost ”.

Differences, particularly as regards Spain, depart especially from the fact that in some European countries many of the providers of health services choose the formula for reimbursement; on the other hand, says Dr. Macaya, in our country have traditionally a wide and extensive network of public hospitals who have offered these services, leaving very little room for the conclusion of certain health benefits ”; in fact, adds even drag a certain inertia and stiffness in the national health system, with a limited efficiency and a poor productivity ”.

However, the situation in our country is varying substantially in recent years. By way of example, the head of the SEC cites the growing role that are annexing the Spanish health landscape companies like Bank health or Capio, ever-increasing market-grabbing ”. They are companies that establish a public-private partnership that they provide infrastructure and charge form capitativa (for insured) to the State, by presenting today as an alternative to the sustainability of the public health system.

The turning point is located with the implementation underway, development and implementation of “Model Alzira”, a new paradigm is to manage public health and that it already has five administrative concessions in the Valencian Community, four hospitals in the community of Madrid, and arouses the interest of Governments and institutions both public and private national and international.

Although the Swedish model has not been addressed specifically at this meeting, Dr. Macaya finds it particularly suggestive. All Sweden public hospitals have become privately, although without having impact on the cost that the citizen must pay for health services. What he has done is increase efficiency ”. One of the distinguishing features of this model, as the Chairman of the SEC, is that assessment of physicians based on their productivity, so that they can be economically compensated or under warrant longer are more efficient and productive ”.

For its part, the President-elect of the SEC, Dr. Vicente Bertomeu, points out that management is good or bad, regardless of whether public or private. The problem is that there is a stagnation in public health that even such basics as the standards of selection and recruitment of staff are different in public hospitals and in private. On the other hand, practitioners in public hospitals have virtually no incentive policy, nor recognizes their professional capacity and productivity. Therefore, the solution is not exclusively the privatization, but the adaptation to the current socio-economic model of the regulations of the health management of public hospitals. We must not forget that the best hospitals in Spain are public ”.

According to Bertomeu, in any case, both public hospitals and concessions are the responsibility of the health authorities, which must ensure for the fulfilment of the standards and recommendations developed by the scientific societies that health benefits are equitable to the whole population, not forgetting, the health authorities toalso the welfare aspect should bet by undergraduate and graduate training and development in the research ”.

Spanish society of Cardiology (SEC)

The Spanish society of Cardiology (SEC) is a scientific and professional organization non-profit dedicated to increasing the State of knowledge about the heart and the circulatory system, to make progress in the prevention and treatment of their diseases and to improve survival and quality of life for heart patients.

The SEC has among its principal objectives contribute to research international, especially European and Latin American, create national and international links for the development of actions and represent all interested professionals in the field of cardiology.