Public Hospitals Facing Bankruptcy After Exploitative Medical Contracts Exposed

A scandal involving inflated medical billing and predatory contracts between public hospitals and a private firm has left facilities in Mogilno and Miastko on the brink of financial collapse.

The Perfect Setup: Profiting from Public Healthcare

Public healthcare in Poland is reeling from a massive financial scandal. Reports concerning the South Hospital and a ruthless mechanism involving private partnerships have pushed public facilities toward bankruptcy, triggering investigations by the prosecutor’s office and the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA).

The issue began in 2023 when a small district hospital in Mogilno signed a contract with a Bydgoszcz-based firm called Spine to offer spinal pain treatment. The hospital lacked a neurosurgery department, and the agreement quickly became a financial disaster.

Exploitative Revenue Sharing

The hospital’s former management agreed to a lopsided profit split where 65% of the National Health Fund (NFZ) reimbursement went to the private company, while the hospital retained only 35%. Current director Sebastian Jankiewicz notes that such terms should logically be reversed. This imbalance was merely the beginning of the systemic abuse.

The Medical Assembly Line

Operations were concentrated on Saturdays, when the hospital’s operating room was otherwise idle. The facility processed patients from across the country—all referred by doctors linked to the Spine company—in a factory-like assembly line.

Fraudulent Billing Practices

An audit by the National Health Fund (NFZ) exposed a deceptive documentation practice. Doctors performed quick, low-cost outpatient procedures—thermal lesions—but documented them as expensive inpatient hospitalizations. While the simple procedure is valued at 1,500 PLN, the fraudulent documentation allowed the hospital to bill 6,500 PLN, with the private company taking the lion’s share.

Financial Collapse and Pending Liquidation

Following the audit, the NFZ imposed a 2.6 million PLN penalty on the Mogilno hospital. The private company also sued the indebted facility for unpaid dues, winning a court judgment for 1.3 million PLN. With a bailiff blocking 400,000 PLN from current contracts, the hospital can no longer pay its own medical staff.

The situation is equally dire in the town of Miastko, where neurosurgeons reportedly performed over 2,500 procedures, including 77 in a single day on a 19-bed ward. If similar fraud is confirmed, the facility faces a potential 13 million PLN penalty, which would necessitate its immediate liquidation.