This report analyzes the profile and legal framework of the medical sector in Poland, as well as trends and corporate developments of 2013. Industry players discussed in the report include companies such as Bupa, Polpharma, and the state-owned CF Cefarm, among others.

Poland’s health care system has experienced a major transformation since 1999, moving from a centralized budget-funded structure to a decentralized system funded by mandatory health insurance. The country’s healthcare system is still undergoing reforms, with the latest being a supplementary health insurance bill that is expected to be ready by the end of 2013.

Employment in the Polish medical sector kept rising in 2011 and is projected to continue rising in the next few years. Yet, on a regional level, Poland has a poor showing in terms of physicians per 1,000 inhabitants. The number of medical graduates per 100,000 people in Poland is below the average for OECD countries; the same goes for nursing graduates. Regarding the sector’s capacity, the annual growth in the number of general hospitals eased to 2.4% in 2011 from 5.4% in 2010, while the number of hospital beds dropped by 0.9% on the year to 178,907 as of end-2011, according to data from the Polish statistics office. The rate of increase in outpatient healthcare units accelerated in 2011, with private facilities boosting their share of the total to 86%. Espicom estimates that Poland has the second-lowest hospital bed rate in Central and Eastern Europe, standing at 4.8 in 2013. The country has the third-highest number of hospitals in the region.

Key Points:

• In corporate news, international healthcare group Bupa completed the acquisition of LUX MED, the largest private healthcare provider in Poland. Leading pharmaceutical manufacturer Polpharma sold its OTC antithrombotic drug Polocard to US-based Pfizer. And Polish firms Sepo and Hasco-Lek were shortlisted to acquire an 85% stake in the state-owned pharmaceutical distribution firm Centrala Farmaceutyczna Cefarm (CF Cefarm).

• Poland’s total spending on health accounted for 6.7% of the country’s economic output in 2011, down from 7% in 2010, and was below that of its CEE peers – Hungary and the Czech Republic with 7.7% and 7.4%, respectively.

• Public funds account for 71.2% of Poland’s total health spending. Health expenditure per capita in Poland stood at USD 899 in 2011, the lowest among the so-called Vesegrad countries, according to WHO data.

• The value of the Polish private health care market grew by 4.4% y/y to PLN 33.8bn (EUR 8.1bn) in 2012 and is forecast to expand at an average annual rate of 5% by 2015. The sector’s growth eased from 6.8% in 2011 mainly due to slower growth in the category “patients’ spending on healthcare products.” The Polish private health care market is forecast to reach a value of PLN 39bn in 2015.

• Supplementary health insurance will remain the fastest-growing segment in the next two years. Medical subscriptions will be the second fastest-growing segment.