The Impact of COVID-19 on the Performance of Primary Health Care Service Providers in a Capitation Payment System: A Case Study from Poland

Piotr Korneta, Magdalena Kludacz-Alessandri and Renata Walczak
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Piotr Korneta: Faculty of Management, Warsaw University of Technology, 02-524 Warszawa, Poland
Magdalena Kludacz-Alessandri: College of Economics and Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Technology, 09-400 Plock, Poland
Renata Walczak: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Mechanics and Petrochemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, 09-400 Plock, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: In Poland, as in many other countries, the use of capitation payment schemes in primary health care is popular. Despite this popularity, the subject literature discusses its role in decreasing the quality of primary medical services. This problem is particularly important during COVID-19, when medical entities provide telehealth services to patients. The objective of the study is to examine the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the performance of the primary health care providers in Poland under a capitation payment scheme. In this study the authors use data from interviews with personnel of medical entities and financial and administrative reports of primary health care providers in order to identify how this crisis situation impacts the performance of primary health care entities, under capitation payment system. The performance indicators include both the financial and quality measures. Selected to the case study primary health care service providers significantly improved their profitability due to considerable costs savings and reduction of services provided to patients in a time of COVID-19 pandemic. Capitation payment system proved to be inefficient, in the studied pandemic period, in terms of the services provided by primary health care service providers to patients and the funds paid to them, in exchange, by the government entities.

Keywords: COVID-19; primary health care; performance; capitation payment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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