90 thousand items. The National Health Fund published treatment quality indicators. Few know how to read them

• On April 30, the National Health Fund published quality indicators for hospitals
• This results from the provisions of the Quality Act, which was one of the milestones in the KPO
• Quality indicators are to show, among other things, what rehospitalizations look like, the effectiveness of treating heart attacks or pneumonia. In total, there are several dozen indicators
• For now, hospital representatives admit in an interview with Rynek Zdrowia that they do not know how to read this data.
• All the more so because in July 2026, correction factors prepared by the National Health Fund are to be added to this

On April 30 this year, health care quality indicators were published for the first time on the National Health Fund website.

"The publication of quality indicator values ​​is the obligation of the President of the National Health Fund arising from the Act on quality in health care and patient safety (Journal of Laws 2023, item 1692)" - explained the National Health Fund.

As it informs, "the presented indicators refer to the indicators defined in the Regulation of the Minister of Health of September 10, 2024 on health care quality indicators with the calculation method specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Health of April 16, 2025 amending the regulation on general terms and conditions of contracts for the provision of health care services ".

The information in the report was prepared based on data from the National Health Fund headquarters as of April 2025.

"The data presented in the indicator value sheet refer to the year 2024 understood as the settlement year, while the mortality rates refer to 2023. The data presented include data reported to the National Health Fund and transferred to the NFZ headquarters, regardless of the settlement and verification status," we read in the information from the NFZ.

The publication contains nearly 90 thousand items in total. These include indicators for individual clinics and hospitals such as:

• Number of patients with pulmonary embolism per 1000 patients hospitalized for elective surgery
• Rehospitalization rate after appendectomy
• The frequency of repeated hospitalizations (rehospitalizations) after cholecystectomy
• The frequency of cesarean sections
• Mortality after ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke within 30 days of the end of hospitalization (for the previous year)
• Mortality within 30 days of hospitalization of patients with pneumonia (previous year)
• Average hospitalization time
• Average number of healthcare services in outpatient specialist care per patient
• Number of primary care physician consultations per patient
• Breast Cancer Prevention Program Enrollment
• Percentage of selected one-day healthcare services in a planned manner
• The structure of services in outpatient specialist care

The publication also includes a sheet with a list of hospitals that have obtained accreditation.

- When designing this regulation (concerning quality indicators – ed.), we had to strike a balance between what is useful for measuring quality, paying attention to those related to patient safety, and additional activities that entities must perform and report additional information - explained Maciej Karaszewski , director of the Department of Medical Treatment at the Ministry of Health, at a meeting of the parliamentary committee in December last year.

- As for the so-called starting point , it will be published on April 30 next year. Each entity will be able to check where it is and compare itself with other facilities. It will be available on the NFZ website and everyone will be able to look there. For now, we do not know what this starting point is, because the moment of its determination will come - he added.

The indicators were published on April 30, but hospital representatives admitted in an interview with Rynek Zdrowia that they need several days to familiarize themselves with the data and analyze it.

"At first glance" they are unable to determine where such indicators come from and what conclusions can be drawn from them by comparing them in various comparisons.

The Quality Act and the Regulation constitute the implementation of one of the milestones within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan - i.e. milestone D3G "Entry into force of the Act on quality in health care and patient safety, together with the necessary implementing provisions".

Its aim is to improve the efficiency of the healthcare system, the availability and quality of healthcare services, in particular in key areas due to epidemiological threats and lifestyle diseases, as well as the demographic situation.

The quality indicators were first published on the NFZ website on April 30. However, even before their publication, in February 2025, a draft amendment to the regulation of the Minister of Health on the general terms and conditions of contracts for the provision of health care services appeared. On April 16 this year, this regulation was published.

According to it, the President of the National Health Fund will be obliged to establish correction coefficients based on the achieved quality measures.

Let us recall that, in accordance with the Act, quality in healthcare is measured using healthcare quality indicators within the following areas: clinical, consumer and management.

Importantly, after the changes, healthcare services will be settled based on correction factors that take into account the values ​​of quality indicators calculated in accordance with the method set out in the annex to the general terms and conditions of contracts.

However, the President of the National Health Fund has time to establish the correction coefficients until 1 July 2026. An exception is the correction coefficient for the rate of notification to the colon cancer prevention program , which is to be determined from 1 July 2025.

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