The overall objective of the reforms and investments under the "Healthcare" component is to improve the accessibility, quality and long-term financial sustainability of the healthcare system. This includes ensuring sustainable financing for universal access to quality healthcare services, including preventive ones, tackling emerging health threats such as chronic diseases and conditions and new communicable diseases, accelerating the digital transformation of health services, and increasing the efficiency of the governance and functioning of the healthcare system in crisis situations.

Healthcare system reform

The objective of the reform is to ensure a high-quality, accessible, efficient and financially sustainable healthcare system.

The reform includes changes to the legislative framework in the health sector and the entry into force of the amended Healthcare and Health Insurance Act. As part of the reform, targeted systemic measures will be introduced to finance the healthcare system, the network of providers, accounting models and staffing models. The reform will ensure the financial sustainability of the health sector, preserve a wide range of rights under the compulsory health insurance scheme, and improve the governance and performance of the healthcare system. The reform will also include the establishment of an independent body to monitor quality and safety in the healthcare system.

Strengthening the competences of health personnel to ensure the quality of care – investment

The aim of the investment is to develop and extend the competences of registered nurses to enable them to perform their tasks independently and to extend the professional competences of doctors at the primary care level. This is expected to reduce the workload of family doctors, improve access to primary care and ensure better treatment conditions.

The investment will support the training of additional nurses specialised in care for patients with chronic diseases. It will include adapting curricula for health professions, introducing specialised skills training for registered nurses, taking a comprehensive approach to the treatment of geriatric patients, establishing a network of equipped regional palliative mobile teams, strengthening the mental healthcare system, and increasing the quality of care for musculoskeletal pain conditions.

Digital transformation of healthcare – investment

The objectives of the investments are to ensure fast access to high-quality harmonised health data, in particular through the integration of new digital services in healthcare, to promote the use of information technology to communicate with patients and other stakeholders in the healthcare system, to introduce quality monitoring based on real-time data, to improve capacity and patient care planning, and to plan hospital capacity, health services and material conditions.

The investment includes, among other things, the expansion of the Patient Data Register, the introduction of a central picture archiving and communication system (PACS) accessible to all relevant stakeholders, the establishment of a national platform for telemedicine, the strengthening of the digital competences of actors in the health sector, and the upgrading of the eHealth e-procurement system.

Optimising access to the healthcare system – investment

The investment aims to improve access to and the quality of emergency medical assistance in all regions and reduce the time taken by the emergency medical unit to reach the scene.

The investment includes the establishment of a network of post-acute care centres and smaller rehabilitation units at the primary level within major health centres, and the upgrading of emergency care infrastructure.

Effective treatment of communicable diseases – investment

The objective of the investment is to strengthen and improve the capacity to treat communicable diseases in Slovenia. The investment consists of the implementation of an infrastructure project, the construction of an extension to the Clinic for Infectious Diseases at the Ljubljana University Medical Centre.