At the press conference some days ago the Minister of Health Dr. Peter Moskov stated that at that time the valuation of clinical pathways was like a cat in a bag – no one knew what was in it. He noted that it was unclear how the prices on pathways were formed and what they actually cost. The Minister said he would address a number of issues in that direction – whether the price at that moment ensured a person quality of service, whether the work of doctors was valuated in general, how much went for medical costs, etc.

Dr. Moskov said he was planning to change that and the Ministry was working at that time on the actual evaluation of the activities that would fall into the basic package of health insurance. In his words, it should be clear how much was the actual value of each medical activity, including the funds for the simplest gauze to the most expensive antibiotic. The costs for the use of the equipment and its depreciation would also be taken into account. He said that it was essential to valuate the work of nurses, because at that time that was not calculated in the clinical pathways. Therefore were the planned talks with the BMA where a discussion would be held on how much the average doctors’ salary in the country should be and what were the possibilities to implement the proposals of the professional organizations.

Dr. Moskov said that at that time work was carried out on the evaluation of three disease groups – cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. He said that the cost of treatment would include all of the above, as well as the cost of consumables.

According to Dr. Moskov such evaluation should be done in relation to the other treatment components – such as the medical devices. He noted that at that moment there was no clarity regarding the basis on which to form their prices and said that would also change. From his words it became clear that the Ministry was preparing a register of products, which would be very different from the current BDA list. A working group would be dealing with this.