We want to develop care at home and telemedicine, because “society is aging – but there is a critical shortage of care beds”

According to the Minister of Health Hosam Abu Meri (JV), the re-planning of the operation of the hospital network is determined by several factors, the main of which are demographic trends of the population, limited resources of medical personnel, principles of patient-centered care and the needs of the population for more accessible health care services, new medical technology and market entry of treatments.

“In order to improve timely access to quality health care, it is very important to address not only the problem of persistently insufficient financing of the health care system, but also to promote a paradigm shift and use resources more efficiently – concentrate services, develop new ones – for example, home care, mobile units, artificial intelligence more active use and telemedicine. It is important that we are able to adapt to trends – the society is aging – but we are critically lacking in care beds,” the Minister of Health explains the need for changes.

The report provides information on the measures planned by the Ministry of Health to improve inpatient healthcare services. Namely, to ensure the availability of emergency medical assistance in every hospital, to update the requirements for hospital activity profiles and their levels, to outline cooperation networks of regional hospitals and to determine their principles of operation, to start creating methodical management that will ensure systemic quality control of treatment processes.

The action plan covers 36 hospitals. While maintaining the existing network of hospitals, it is planned to evaluate the provision of medical profiles in hospitals by analyzing hospital indicators, as well as evaluating the availability of services.

In 2024, additional funding will be directed to strengthening hospital emergency medicine and patient reception departments (NMPUN). Additional funding is also provided for the provision of observation beds. The doctor will assess the patient’s state of health, provide the scope of urgent health care services to assess and stabilize the state of health, and will sequentially decide on the course of further treatment – outpatient treatment, inpatient treatment or transfer to a higher level or appropriate profile hospital.

In 2024, it is planned to start creating methodological management centers – in oncology, psychiatry and child psychiatry, cardiology, traumatology and orthopedics, pediatrics, family medicine, ensuring an effective and high-quality management system in Latvia. Successively, in 2025, such methodical management institutions are expected to be established also in obstetrics, radiology and rehabilitation, covering other areas in the future.

In order to promote more active involvement of hospitals in the digitization of medical data, additional funding for hospitals is also provided for the development of this field. The digitization of medical documents and the availability of structured health data will contribute to the quality and speed of patient care, ensuring the availability of comprehensive information about the patient to medical personnel. In order to cover the hospitals’ costs related to the improvement of data integration and transfer to E-health, both a one-time and an annual payment to the hospitals are provided. From 2025, digitization payments are planned for hospitals according to the number of treated patients in the institution.

By April 2025, the Ministry of Health will submit to the government an informative report on the planned requirements for the basic profiles of inpatient healthcare services and revised tariffs, which are planned to be implemented on January 1, 2026, determining the healthcare services provided in each hospital, the necessary human resources and material and technical support. In addition, the necessary funding will be considered in the budget review process together with other applications for priority measures.

In 2026, it is planned to prepare an informative report on the improvement of the cooperation network of hospitals, the provision of support for the operation of operating theaters and the determination of the location of the Specialized Medical Center of the Emergency Medical Service in the healthcare system. Together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and planning regions, we will improve the existing cooperation network of hospitals, strengthening the cooperation between clinical universities and regional hospitals.

The MoI continues to make the necessary funding calculations for the strengthening of hospitals. In order to implement the planned measures for the development of the hospital network, today’s government decision envisages allocating 25 million euros to it in 2024 and 29 million euros annually thereafter.