site.btaPhysicians Threaten to Withdraw from National Framework Agreement

Physicians Threaten to Withdraw from National Framework Agreement

Sofia, April 16 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Medical Association (BMA)
on Thursday threatened to withdraw their signatures from the
National Framework Agreement with the National Health Insurance
Fund (NHIF) unless the NHIF Supervisory Board unblocks 25
million leva from the Fund's reserve to provide necessary
funding to hospitals.

Speaking at a BTA-hosted news conference, BMA President Tsvetan
Raichinov said that NHIF has indeed given hospitals 25 million
leva in reimbursements for additional services provided by them
in the first quarter of the year, but it debited the amount
against the remainder of their annual budgets. This added up to
a 7-8 per cent decrease of hospital budgets, which is too much
and unacceptable for BMA, Raichinov said.

If NHIF refuses to unblock 25 million leva from its reserve,
this will imply a refusal to honour its agreement with BMA
regarding the methods of pricing and funding of medical
services, he said.

Raichinov warned that unless measures are taken now, the process
will get out of control and NHIF's deficit will again reach 200
million leva or even more.