The Czech Republic has a universal health care system, based on a
compulsory insurance model, with
fee-for-service Fee-for-service (FFS) is a payment model where services are unbundled and paid for separately.
In health care, it gives an incentive for physicians to provide more treatments because payment is dependent on the quantity of care, rather than quality ...
care funded by mandatory employment-related insurance plans since 1992.
[ According to the 2018 Euro health consumer index, a comparison of ]healthcare in Europe
Healthcare in Europe is provided through a wide range of different systems run at individual national levels. Most European countries have a system of tightly regulated, competing private health insurance companies, with government subsidies ava ...
, the Czech healthcare is ranked 14th, just behind Portugal and two positions ahead of the United Kingdom.
History
In the 1989–1992 period, the healthcare faced substantial problems after the transition from Communist monopoly market to competitive market. From the past top-down centralized government system, the newly elected administrators enacted reforms designed to expand patient choice. From 1990 to 1998, deaths under one year of age shrank from 10.8 to 5.2 per thousand. Statistically, the Czech Republic is one of the healthiest of the central and eastern European countries, though some data points lag behind other Western European nations. The Republic has been a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...
(OECD) since 1995.
In late 2000, professors of medicine Jan Holčík and Ilona Koupilová wrote for ''The International Journal of Integrated Care'',
The Czech healthcare system has a great degree of decentralization and market forces used in it compared to other European systems.
In terms of administration, the healthcare system is based on a compulsory insurance model, with fee-for-service Fee-for-service (FFS) is a payment model where services are unbundled and paid for separately.
In health care, it gives an incentive for physicians to provide more treatments because payment is dependent on the quantity of care, rather than quality ...
care funded by mandatory employment-related insurance plans since 1992.[ User fees have subsequently been reduced by more recent governments.
]
Medication
The service is moving towards a mandatory electronic prescribing system.
The Pharmaceuticals Act, as amended, provides that the State Institute for Drug Control
The State Institute for Drug Control (Státní ústav pro kontrolu léčiv) is a Czech government agency responsible for regulation of the safe production of pharmaceuticals in the country, clinical evaluation of medicines and for monitoring the ...
collects and analyses data about pharmaceuticals present in the country and to ensure distribution of medicinal products "within two business days of receipt of an order". It appears that some parts of the Act are unenforceable in practice.
See also
*Economy of the Czech Republic
The economy of the Czech Republic is a developed export-oriented social market economy based in services, manufacturing, and innovation that maintains a high-income welfare state and the European social model.Christian Aspalter, Kim Jinsoo, ...
*History of the Czech Republic
The history of the Czech lands – an area roughly corresponding to the present-day Czech Republic – starts approximately 800,000 years BCE. A simple chopper from that age was discovered at the Red Hill ( cz, Červený kopec) archeological sit ...
*Healthcare in Europe
Healthcare in Europe is provided through a wide range of different systems run at individual national levels. Most European countries have a system of tightly regulated, competing private health insurance companies, with government subsidies ava ...
*List of hospitals in the Czech Republic
This is a list of hospitals in the Czech Republic.
See also
*Healthcare in the Czech Republic
References
{{List of hospitals in Europe
Czech Republic
Hospitals
*
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landl ...
* Ministry of Health (Czech Republic)
References
External links
OECD's Czech Republic country website
{{Health care in Europe