Bulgaria Moves to Restore Procurement Rules for Private Hospitals Amid EU Court Case
Bulgaria's ruling Progressive Bulgaria party has introduced legislation requiring all hospitals receiving public health insurance funding to follow public procurement procedures, eliminating the current exemption for private hospitals. The reform comes as Bulgaria faces legal action from the European Commission at the Court of Justice of the European Union for incorrectly transposing EU procurement law. The dual system, in place since 2016, allowed private hospitals to negotiate directly with suppliers, leading to price disparities where the National Health Insurance Fund paid up to twenty times more for the same medicines depending on the hospital. A second amendment would centralize purchasing of unlicensed medicines through the Health Ministry. Health Minister Katya Ivkova supports the changes, which aim to ensure equal treatment and uniform pricing across all healthcare providers using public funds.
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