In private healthcare, the patient comes first, not the doctor

Portorož, March 9, 2017 – Public healthcare will not improve unless it faces competition from the private healthcare sector, was the key message of Prof. Nikica Gabrić’s, MD, PhD presentation at the Healthcare Development Forum. Held for the fourteenth time, this year’s conference focused on healthcare management and leadership and brought together around 30 prominent healthcare management experts from Slovenia and Croatia, as well as approximately 100 participants.

“Competition from private healthcare motivates the public sector and encourages reform. Competition improves the quality of services, leads to lower prices, and promotes the rationalization of unnecessary costs accumulated by the public healthcare system,” said Prof. Gabrić,MD, PhD founder of the first private eye hospital in the region.

Speaking about the relationship between private and public healthcare, he emphasized that it should already be acknowledged that the public funds allocated to healthcare in both Croatia and Slovenia are insufficient to provide the level of healthcare rights promised by the states.

“We need to recognize that if we want a higher level of healthcare than what we currently have, we will have to take greater responsibility ourselves, which also means greater participation in healthcare costs,” he added.

As the main differences between private and public healthcare, he highlighted the approach to patients and accountability.

“In our system, the patient is at the center, not the doctor, and the entire system is designed around the patient,” Gabrić said.

Speaking about healthcare management, he emphasized the importance of management qualifications.

“The fact that someone is a good specialist physician is no guarantee that they will be a good director of a clinic or hospital. This requires additional knowledge and skills, which most doctors appointed to management positions by politicians do not possess,” he explained.

“The future of private healthcare in this region lies in bringing together competitive providers, because foreign healthcare corporations will soon be knocking on our doors. Unfortunately, smaller healthcare providers could face the same fate as small shops when shopping malls first began to appear,” concluded Prof. Nikica Gabrić, MD, PhD.