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The sun is shining on Cyprus's National Health Service

2017; Elsevier BV; Volume: 390; Issue: 10092 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0140-6736(17)31826-3

1474-547X

George Samoutis, Constantinos Paschalides,

Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

12 years have passed since The Lancet's World Report1Antoniadou M Can Cyprus overcome its health-care challenges?.Lancet. 2005; 365: 1017-1020Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (9) Google Scholar that questioned whether Cyprus would address its substantial health-care challenges, and more than 7 years have passed since we questioned whether any such health-care system would ever be implemented, despite it being “long-awaited” and “carefully planned”.2Samoutis G Paschalides C When will the sun shine on Cyprus's National Health Service?.Lancet. 2011; 377: 29Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (9) Google Scholar On June 16, 2017, the parliament of Cyprus unanimously voted on a game-changing National Health Service—the dawn of a new era for the country's health service and population as a whole. The new Cyprus National Health Service will: unify public and private health resources and provide Cypriots with a free choice of public or private sector (today, 50% use the public sector and 50% use the private sector); provide universal access to all Cypriots; and be primary care driven (all Cypriots will register with general practitioners, community paediatricians, and community obstetricians or gynaecologists). The service will also introduce new reimbursement systems (diagnosis-related groups for hospital care, fee for service for outpatient specialist care, and a capitation fee for primary care physicians) and include a single-payer system under a semi-governmental organisation—the National Health Insurance Organisation. The new Cyprus National Health Service will be financed by the state, employers, and salary-earners. Pensioners, public servants, and income-earners will contribute 2·65% of their income, employers will contribute 2·9%, the state will contribute 4·7%, and the self-employed will contribute 4%. Notably, yearly caps have been set: €300 for patient co-payments, and €75 for low-income pensioners and disadvantaged groups. According to the Cyprus National Health Service bill, the new system will come into effect on March 1, 2019, and will include primary care and outpatient specialists. On March 1, 2020, hospital care will also be included. For the first time, patients will be represented on the National Health Insurance Organisation Board of Directors, and will have voting rights equal to those of the rest of the board members (ie, employers, employees, Ministry of Health representatives, and Ministry of Finance representatives). We congratulate the Cypriot Government, and all political parties, for this success, and we urge them to effectively embed quality-management strategies to enable patient-centredness and financial sustainability of the system. We declare no competing interests. When will the sun shine on Cyprus's National Health Service?It has been 9 years since an official parliamentary law was passed in Cyprus to implement a primary-care-driven health-care coverage system for the entire population. Since then, the Health Insurance Organisation has been set up as the single payer, which, in collaboration with McKinsey consultants, has brought forth a detailed design for the long-awaited Cyprus National Health Service (NHS). However, despite the project reaching its final stages, a cloud of doubt remains over whether the government will take the plunge and implement what it has so carefully planned. Full-Text PDF