Description
Within the program primary healthcare physicians have been given the opportunity to refer patients for specific comprehensive, as well as to educational advice (provided by a nurse or doctor), dietary advice and specialist consultations as part of coordinated care. The main goals of coordinated care are systematizing patient care, expanding the diagnostic capabilities of primary healthcare; shortening the patient’s path to obtaining appropriate services and the possibility of consultations within certain specializations. Also individualized treatment planning, intensifying the implementation of preventive programs, including by actively encouraging patients to report for tests, providing feedback to the ordering physician through closer cooperation with specialists, improving the quality of patient care through health education, and increasing dietary support for patients. Coordinated care services are provided within five paths: cardiology, diabetology, pulmonology/allergy, endocrine, nephrology. To implement the selected coordinated care path, the primary care facility must provide the possibility of consultation with a specialist in a given field, which takes place in two formulas: a stationary visit or a remote consultation. It is also necessary to provide access to dietary consultations. A primary care physician is required to conduct an annual comprehensive visit, which is the basis for assessing the patient’s current condition and developing an Individual Medical Care Plan. This provides the patient with developed guidelines for pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment, as well as planned tests, consultations and educational advice. The coordinator in each centre is responsible for the entire diagnostic and therapeutic process of the patient.Program launch date
1st October 2022Responsible entity
National Health FundAvailable results and quality metrics
According to data from the National Health Fund (April 2025), approximately 40% of primary health care clinics have already concluded agreements to provide coordinated care. In November 2024 "My Patients" Foundation presented the results of the survey on the program: as many as 80.2% of respondents would recommend participation in a coordinated care program to their relatives or friends; >93% of patients confirm that diagnostics and treatment were going according to plan -- importantly primary health care facilities within the program provide access to diagnostic tests in several times shorter time than in the queue for them in outpatient specialist care.Limitations / comments
They are still 60% primary care clinics that do not participate in the program. Some of them have difficulties to provide specialists consultation and educational advises. More focus on CVD prevention should be laid in the program, with comprehensive emphasis on the most prevalent CVD risk factors, like lipid disorders, obesity, smoking or lipoprotein(a).