The last 25 years of publicly funded health care have been marked by the unique ownership structure known as consortium. Consortia allowed a joint venture between ancient non-profit hospitals created by civil society and the public administration. The underlying rationale for such an ownership structure is strictly related to capital investment demand. Since non-profit foundations could not raise enough funds to fulfill new techonology and population health needs, the public sector funded new investments and participated in the boards of directors.
These sounds quite normal, it is a historic evolution and has a clear and common sense argument. However, public sector has not been able to include depreciation and replacement costs in the tariff and this has created greater need for resources.
Unfortunately, those consortia that had management autonomy and public administration in the boards are now being dispossessed from its original owners -the non-profit foundations- and being converted into public organizations.
This is a clear social plundering commited by the spanish Parliament in a recent law. You may have more details in this article (check p.46).
Is this the end? I think so, unless there is a clear mandate to change current regulation. Its impact maybe enormous: disappearing boards of directors, employees converted into "de facto" civil servants and its equivalent remuneration, and the most important: there is no reverse gear.
It is worrying how politicians can accept such a loss of dynamic efficiency before their very eyes. It is unacceptable that social created capital can be plungered this way. Politicians can stop the end of consortia, they should stop it.
PS. Two years ago I was blogging on the same topic. Unfortunately all the alerts were neglected.
PS. Must read, on ebola by I. Hernández.
