Clinics prepare for private health insurance

Centrul de Investigaţii Medicale - Bacău, established by the Bujeniţă Family, was the first private clinic in Moldavia which offered computed tomography (CT) services in 2003. It acquired latest generation magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT equipment in 2009. It is also the only private clinic in Bacău to offer health service transport.

Medicover likewise recently took over two partner clinics, in Sibiu and Braşov.

Most private medical firms in Bucharest have partnerships with clinics in major cities around Romania. Attracting such a partner into one’s own network ensures the takeover of a time-consolidated clientele and local market share, as well as service for subscribed corporate clients of companies.

The consolidation of national networks, and ambulance and hospital services, are operations with which medical service operators are preparing for the start of private health insurance. This moment, already postponed for several years, due to the weak development of private health care, the monopoly of the National Health Care Insurance House (CNAS), and indecision on the part of the regulatory authorities, now seems near.

“We are trying to overcome the crisis period, because financing of the House [CNAS] has dropped, which is an impetus for private payment. However, I do not believe this is equitable. The system cannot be entirely cash-driven, and a major obstacle is the lack of a competitive financing system. Private insurance is the solution; there is no other solution,” said Tiberiu Roth, General Manager of Hiperdia. The private medical market is worth some €430 million, and main players are MedLife, CMU, Sanador, Medicover, Medsana, and Medcenter.