Adam Vojtěch, Minister of Health in Andrej Babiš’s new administration, outlines crucial actions he plans to implement in managing and financing healthcare. He discusses the need for insurance companies to assume more responsibility, ways to accelerate the integration of AI into medicine, and strategies to maintain stable drug supplies.
Where do you identify the most significant areas for improvement in the Czech healthcare system concerning management, financing, and efficiency, and what changes do you think are essential?
Our healthcare system relies on public health insurance, with insurance companies playing a crucial role. They are tasked with providing accessible, high-quality care to their clients, but they currently fall short. They must become more proactive, utilise data, and use contracts and reimbursement strategies to enhance care efficiency and quality. This requires granting them more responsibility, as well as contractual freedom and the ability to negotiate with providers. They should have the chance to differentiate themselves and compete more effectively regarding their policyholders, including the ability to offer financial incentives for following preventive measures. Emphasising prevention is crucial for the future sustainability of healthcare, as the main challenge is the significant rise in chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, which are largely preventable or manageable if detected early. This requires strengthening primary care, especially the roles of general practitioners and non-medical professions. To improve efficiency, it is vital to complete healthcare digitisation, ensuring electronic medical records and data sharing among providers.
How should the state establish guidelines for using artificial intelligence in medicine to speed up diagnosis and treatment while ensuring patient safety and trust?
Artificial intelligence is a significant opportunity to enhance the efficiency of patient diagnosis and treatment, and to utilise human resources in healthcare better, as they will likely become more limited due to an ageing population. Innovative technologies, including AI, are crucial to addressing this issue. These technologies are advancing rapidly, so it is essential to establish a flexible mechanism for integrating them into the system to avoid long delays before implementation. Of course, a fundamental requirement is their certification to ensure safety, including verifying the data these technologies are trained on. Overall, I believe AI will naturally become part of diagnostic and treatment methods in the coming years and will also help reduce administrative tasks.
What systemic measures do you plan to implement to help the state and pharmaceutical companies better prevent shortages of essential and specialised products?
First and foremost, we should strive, both within the Czech Republic and the European Union, to retain or attract the production of medicines and active ingredients to our region, reducing our reliance on imports from third countries. Achieving greater control over supply chains will increase resilience to medicine shortages. Additionally, it is crucial to maintain extra stocks of essential and irreplaceable medicines to address potential shortages. It is also necessary to strictly penalise illegal reexports of medicines, where imported drugs fail to reach Czech patients and are instead sent abroad. Supporting medicine development and broader involvement in clinical trials is equally important to ensure patients have quick access to the latest treatments.
