Changes planned to payment of GPs

The Health Insurance Organisation – the agency running the national health system or Gesy – will as of this autumn alter the way in which personal doctors are remunerated, with 20 per cent of their pay reportedly linked to various performance indexes such as giving elderly patients the flu jab.

According to Phileleftheros, the HIO has officially notified the affected doctors of the coming changes. The changes concern doctors for adult patients.

In a letter to the doctors seen by the daily, the HIO stated: “At this stage for the year 2023, the per person remuneration [i.e. according to the number of Gesy beneficiaries on a doctor’s list of patients] will remain at 80 per cent of doctors’ remuneration, and the remuneration based on qualitative criteria at 20 per cent of the initial budget.

“It is noted that, with the introduction of the criteria and the performance indexes, the overall budget for personal doctors, and therefore their income, will not be affected.”

One of the qualitative criteria relates to participation in training seminars.

“The doctor will be remunerated with €400 for his/her participation in seminars of a duration of 10 hours or worth 10 points per six months. As such, each doctor will be able to receive an amount up to €800 per year. This criterion will take effect as of September 2023.”

In addition, physicians will receive an additional amount for “presenting medical cases aimed at improving quality”. This will pay out about €260 a year.

“The personal doctor will present to three or more Gesy doctors a case deriving from his/her own practice which he/she considers as warranting discussion, for example where a patient presents a non-typical medical situation for any ailment or where an incident requires a different treatment than usual. This criterion will apply as of September.”

Doctors will also get a bonus for checking the blood pressure of a number of their patients (aged 45 and over) over and above a certain quota of patients.

Another performance-linked index has to do with administering the flu jab to Gesy beneficiaries aged 65 and over. Again, the amount of the bonus will depend on the ratio of a doctor’s patients getting the jab.

One of the new criteria has to do with the stock of medicines that a doctor has in his/her office to treat emergencies. Doctors who have specific medicines on hand will be rewarded with €250, after filing a relevant declaration. This will apply as of November this year.

And doctors will get €50 for filing a statement about their medical infrastructure and gear. In other words, physicians will notify the HIO about their medical equipment and consumables he or she has in her office. This is to give the HIO a picture about the material available to doctors.