Hospitals lack money for employee salaries. "We've been crediting the system for seven months"

• The second quarter of the year has ended, and hospitals have still not received money for overpayments made in the first quarter of 2025
• The hospital in Krakow lacked the full pool of employee salaries for June
• Medical providers are tightening the terms of cooperation, limiting possible debts and demanding faster payments. Bailiff seizures reach even several million złoty per month
• In the opinion of Marta Nowacka, president of the Association of District Hospitals of the Silesian Voivodeship, the costs of interest, bailiff enforcement, and court proceedings should be allocated to the treatment of patients and not to servicing the debt, which was not the fault of the hospitals.

Narutowicz Municipal Specialist Hospital in Krakow ran out of money to pay full salaries to employees for June . After consultation with the heads of departments, a decision was made to pay 50% of salaries, and in the case of people earning the minimum wage, 100%. The matter was described by the LoveKraków.pl portal.

The quoted director of the facility, Mariola Marchewka, calculated that there was a shortage of about PLN 1 million. She explained that the hospital, which has been in debt for a long time, has had much bigger problems, because the monthly costs of bailiff's proceedings alone currently amount to PLN 4 million .

Since the beginning of the year, the clinic, like most facilities, has been implementing so-called overperformance, also in unlimited services for which reimbursement from the National Health Fund is due. Overperformance is settled after the end of a given quarter.

The application for payment of overpayments for the first quarter - as director Marchewka explains - was submitted to the Małopolska Branch of the National Health Fund on April 18.

"We check bank accounts every day to see if there are any bailiffs' seizures"

In spring, Marta Nowacka, president of the Association of District Hospitals of the Silesian Voivodeship, which brings together 28 hospitals in the region, drew our attention to the problems of hospitals, bailiff seizures and growing debts.

- We check bank accounts every day to see if there are any bailiffs' seizures. The busiest times are when salaries are paid - said the president of the Municipal Hospital in Siemianowice Śląskie.

She explained that hospital suppliers are tightening the terms of cooperation, limiting possible debts and demanding faster payments. She mentioned that in December she agreed with the contractor on a possible debt threshold of PLN 400,000, which the supplier quickly reduced to PLN 50,000.

Today he emphasizes that July has begun and the National Health Fund has still not paid for the overpayments made in the first quarter.

- The 7th month of the year has already begun, and hospitals are still waiting for the funds they are owed for services performed many months ago . This not only disrupts financial liquidity, but also causes real losses - interest costs, enforcement proceedings, court proceedings. This money could and should be spent on treating patients, and not on servicing debt that was not our fault - believes Nowacka.

- It's getting very dangerous. That's why we're appealing to the National Health Fund: pay hospitals for treating patients. It's not an expense. It's an investment in public health. Why do hospitals have to credit the system? Why can't we add interest that we pay from our own budgets? Suppliers of energy, medicines and services are not waiting. There are no discounts, no write-offs, no installments. ZUS no longer wants to postpone payments. Hospitals have to pay on time - adds the president of the association, in which almost all facilities are in the red.

In the case of the hospital in Kraków, the Małopolska Provincial Branch of the National Health Fund informed the LoveKraków.pl portal that in the first quarter the costs of overperformance in unlimited services in this facility amounted to PLN 2.6 million, and the settlement process is ongoing and "will be completed in the near future".

After the website published the material, the money was transferred to the institution, which announced last Friday (July 4) that "all employees will receive their full salary for the month of June."

We asked the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund about the issue of unpaid surpluses for the first quarter, which are already closing the next one. We did not receive a response by the time of publication.

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