Millions Lost in Healthcare: Lack of Control and Digitalization 'Drains' the System

The Bulgarian healthcare system loses millions of euros annually due to a lack of effective control and unsatisfactory digitalization. These findings come from the 'Diagnosa Bulgaria' platform, whose creator, Martin Atanasov, presented analyses based on official sector data.

According to Atanasov, access to a massive volume of data allows for the identification of inconsistencies that have remained hidden until now. One of the most critical findings relates to the pricing of medications – different medical institutions purchase the same rare and expensive drugs at significantly different prices.

As a solution to address these deficiencies, several key measures are proposed:

• Introduction of public procurement for private hospitals that use NHIF funds;
• Centralized auctions for the purchase of expensive medications;
• Deeper digitalization to ensure transparency in management.

The 'Diagnosa Bulgaria' platform already provides the opportunity to compare salaries across different hospitals and regions. The data shows serious discrepancies in remuneration – both between different medical institutions and between employees holding similar positions within the same hospital.

Meetings are currently being planned with representatives from the Ministry of Health and the NHIF, with the aim of expanding publicly available information. The goal is for transparency in the sector to become a sustainable mechanism, rather than just a one-time check.

"The first step is to make the right diagnosis. After that, we must find the right treatment," emphasized Martin Atanasov.