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 Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and two positions ahead of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

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 organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

(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

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 Electronic prescription (e-prescribing or e-Rx) is the computer-based electronic generation, transmission, and filling of a medical prescription, taking the place of paper and faxed prescriptions. E-prescribing allows a physician, physician assis ...

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.

References

External links

OECD's Czech Republic country website
{{Health care in Europe

History

Medication

See also

References

External links