NFZ Tightens Grip on Doctors: Hospitals Must Report Hourly Work Logs

The Polish Ministry of Health is introducing a new monitoring system requiring hospitals to report medical staff hours monthly to combat the practice of “bilocation” where doctors hold multiple simultaneous positions.

Government targets medical “bilocation”

The state is gaining a new oversight tool to monitor physician activity. Hospitals will be required to submit detailed monthly reports on the hours worked by medical staff, allowing the National Health Fund (NFZ) to identify instances of professionals working in several locations at once. This initiative is part of a broader set of health system reforms.

Regulations aim to curb the practice of receiving multiple simultaneous salaries, a phenomenon referred to by some parliamentarians as “bilocation.”

Hospitals to provide hourly performance data

Hospitals will be obligated to provide the National Health Fund with retrospective hourly attendance records for all medical personnel, due by the 20th of each month. Currently, the NFZ receives hourly reports only from outpatient clinics, while hospitals report on a weekly basis.

Fund to identify simultaneous employment

The ministry states that this solution increases the transparency of healthcare contracts and strengthens oversight of publicly funded services. Access to actual working hours will enable the NFZ to analyze compliance with staffing schedules and detect if the same individual is logged as providing services in different places at the same time.

Penalties for late reporting

The new regulations include specific penalties. The NFZ will impose fines on hospitals that fail to meet these new reporting obligations in a timely manner.

Implementation set for November 2026

The draft regulation, which modifies the general conditions for healthcare service contracts, is scheduled to enter into force on November 1, 2026.

Broader health sector reform package

This project is one of four proposed by the ministry to be submitted for public consultation. Minister of Health Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda presented these changes on July 8 following pressure from Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who threatened personnel changes if regulatory proposals were not prepared to address media reports of systemic irregularities.

Planned reforms include setting a gross hourly rate cap of 240 PLN for doctors, establishing percentage limits on physician salary expenditure within hospital budgets, creating an electronic queue system, and accelerating the implementation of central e-registration.