In brief

• The NFZ draft regulation sets out how services in mental health centres are financed and settled, as guaranteed services.
• The centre is to provide comprehensive psychiatric care for adults in a designated area, and the first stage is a notification and coordination point.
• Consultations will last until 23 November 2026.

A model to stay permanently

The NFZ has sent for consultation a draft regulation governing the financing and settlement of services in mental health centres (Finansowanie centrów zdrowia psychicznego. Jest projekt zarządzenia – termedia.pl) (Centra Zdrowia Psychicznego na stałe w systemie ochrony zdrowia. Jest projekt zarządzenia – Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia). The Fund stresses in the document that the aim is to regulate these services as a permanent element of the healthcare system, not another experiment. Consultations will last until 23 November 2026.

Care close to home

Under the draft, the entity running a centre is to provide comprehensive psychiatric care for adults in a designated area. This may be an estate, a district, a city or a county. The first stage is a notification and coordination point. There, the patient undergoes an interview, and doctors assess their mental state and determine further steps. This model is currently being tested in a pilot, which is meant to check how it works in practice before the rules are approved permanently.

Bankier.pl reports that the reason for the change is the disparity between regions in the development of community psychiatry, and a draft amendment to the regulation has been sent to public consultation (Duża zmiana w finansowaniu psychiatrii. NFZ będzie rozdzielał środki centralnie – Bankier.pl). Meanwhile, according to a local government portal, the solution is to move psychiatry out of hospital walls (Psychiatria ma wyjść ze szpitali. NFZ proponuje nowy model finansowania – portalsamorzadowy.pl).

Lump sum dependent on quality

As alertmedyczny.pl reports, the lump sum for centres is to depend also on the quality of services, not only on the number of visits or hospitalisations (NFZ szykuje zmiany w finansowaniu CZP. Ryczałt będzie zależał także od jakości – alertmedyczny.pl).

What next

After consultations end, the NFZ will analyse the comments and decide on the final form of the regulation. Until then, the centres operate within the pilot.

Read also

• Centra zdrowia psychicznego: od 1 stycznia 2027 r. w systemie. Zarządzenie NFZ na początku listopada
• NFZ dokłada 3,36 mld zł na nadwykonania. Wielkopolskie szpitale dostaną około 330 mln zł