Largest health insurer to end contracts with 120 private practices

The state-owned health insurer Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa is about to terminate contracts with around 120 doctor's surgeries and several treatment facilities worth a total of €3 million per year, its director Miroslav Kočan announced on Monday. In the majority of cases, the company found that doctors were working both in hospitals and for their own private facilities, which is a violation of covenants not to compete. Other contracts were terminated because of their inefficiency. The first notices of termination were sent out last week but the affected doctors have not reacted to them so far. Kočan expects that the patients from the affected practices would be transferred to other doctors and there would be no reduction in provision of health care. The measure is part of the insurer's shake-up programme in response to its estimated loss of €200-210 million in 2016.