Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) has commissioned a comprehensive study to evaluate and improve the national health system (GHS) as it approaches its sixth anniversary, with a focus on developing mechanisms to assess service needs and providers.
A foreign consultancy firm specialising in healthcare has been appointed to conduct the study, which must deliver its findings and assessment tools by year-end. The evaluation will initially focus on hospital care and pharmacies before expanding to all healthcare providers.
“Cyprus’s healthcare landscape is changing, and ensuring both quantitative and qualitative adequacy of health service providers to effectively meet citizens’ needs must be a key priority”, HIO Director Iphigenia Kammitsi told philenews.
The study aims to develop mechanisms for evaluating healthcare providers’ operational effectiveness and forecasting future needs.
“Nearly six years after implementation, we need to develop mechanisms that will identify requirements for each service”, Kammitsi said.
She highlighted that significant changes and new investments have emerged since GHS’s implementation.
The initiative will help prevent both shortages and oversupply of services while ensuring effective care delivery and system sustainability.
The Health Ministry is also advancing legislation to regulate various healthcare facilities, including medical offices, diagnostic centres, and rehabilitation facilities.
“We welcome this effort as it will help GHS’s operation through provider licensing and supervision based on legislation, which is currently lacking in Cyprus”, Kammitsi added.
The assessment will examine current conditions, analyse best practices from other health systems, develop a health planning tool, and propose methods to achieve evaluation-based objectives.
Initial focus on hospitals and pharmacies reflects these sectors’ crucial role in the system, with particular attention to pharmacy sector “congestion”.
The HIO will review the experts’ findings and recommendations before determining and implementing new policies.
