Breakthrough law for people with heart disease. Voting in the Sejm on May 9

• The Sejm will vote on the act on the National Cardiology Network (KSK) on Friday, May 9. During Wednesday's (May 7) debate, the most important parliamentary clubs supported the bill
• The main objective of the KSK Act is to improve the organization of care and treatment outcomes for patients with cardiovascular diseases.
• In the vote on the bill, the MPs will decide on the minority motions submitted by the PiS Parliamentary Club, concerning, among others, the financing of the KSK from the state budget and the dates of entry into force of the KSK solutions.
• Deputy Minister of Health Marek Kos said that if the act is passed by the Parliament and signed by the President, the launch of EU funds for the modernization of cardiology centers can be expected in June.
• Similarly, he outlined the expected date for the qualification of cardiology centers to the KSK.

The main objective of the act on the National Cardiology Network is to improve the organization of care for patients with cardiovascular diseases. This will be possible, among other things, thanks to the coordination and comprehensiveness of care, as well as ensuring its continuity: from diagnostics through treatment to rehabilitation and then the patient's return to the clinic for further specialist or primary care by a doctor.

The act is to ensure the same standard of care regardless of the patient's place of residence. - Standards of diagnostics and therapy will be unified throughout the country. We also expect a reduction in the waiting time for treatment - said Deputy Minister of Health Marek Kos. As he said, currently "patients are transferred between doctors", after the launch of the new treatment organization, they are to be smoothly transferred between centers, led by a coordinator.

The quality of treatment will be measured based on indicators, and centers will have to provide it at the required level. Otherwise, they will be dropped from the network.

The National Cardiology Network is to be implemented gradually. It will fully operate from 1 January 2028. This is the date set by the act for the final implementation of the electronic cardiology care card (e-KOK), which will record all data related to the patient's treatment. The electronic version of the card will allow access to this data in each KSK center, which is to significantly improve treatment and transfer of the patient between centers.

PiS Parliamentary Club: we support the idea of ​​the bill

The bill, which was debated by the Sejm on Wednesday, returned from the Sejm Health Committee, where MPs discussed it on April 1. As MP Elżbieta Gelert, who presented the Sejm with a report from the committee meeting, recalled, the bill received support from MPs at this stage. On the other hand, 8 amendments that did not pass the committee were included in the report as minority motions. They were submitted by the Law and Justice Club.

The proposed amendments concerned, among other things, changing the sources of financing for the National Cardiology Network. The act assumes that the funds for this purpose will come from the National Health Fund. MP Katarzyna Sójka, who tabled the amendments on behalf of the PiS club, proposed a different solution. - In our club's opinion, the National Cardiology Network should be financed from the state budget, without burdening the already dramatically indebted National Health Fund - she said.

The next amendments referred to the acceleration of the deadlines for the introduction of the National Cardiology Network, as well as some of its solutions. A pilot of the National Cardiology Network was conducted in 7 provinces. Therefore - as the MP argued - in these provinces, it is possible to introduce, based on the conclusions from the pilot, quality indicators of cardiology care earlier than in others. Hence the proposal that in 7 regions the indicators should be known earlier than, as envisaged by the draft act, after one year from the implementation of the National Cardiology Network. The PiS club requested that this deadline be shortened to 12 months from the entry into force of the act, as well as transitional periods, because "this means postponing the necessary changes".

MP Katarzyna Sójka recalled that the KSK project was initiated by the previous government - We absolutely support the idea of ​​the National Cardiology Network, but the current government proposal requires corrections - she claimed, asking for the adoption of the minority motions during the vote on the entire act, which can be expected on the upcoming Friday (9 May).

Many questions for the minister

The main parliamentary clubs supported the project in statements presented during the Sejm session. During the discussion, as many as 30 MPs decided to direct questions to Deputy Minister of Health Marek Kos, asking for clarification on certain issues.

The MPs asked about the place of district hospitals in the National Cardiology Network and the accessibility of the National Cardiology Network in smaller towns and rural areas. The Deputy Minister assured that district hospitals will be included in the National Cardiology Network.

- In our estimates, we assume that around 1,500 specialist outpatient care centres and around 300 hospitals can enter the first level of the KSK, 125 units can enter the second level, and 35 units can enter the third level - he explained. He added that changes were introduced to the network project at the consultation stage, creating an additional (first) level of the KSK, which will include internal medicine departments treating cardiology patients and cardiology clinics.

The Act provides for three levels of the network. The second will include centers with specialized cardiology departments and hemodynamics or electrophysiology laboratories, and the third will include centers that also have a cardiac surgery department.

Deputy Minister Kos pointed out that, unlike the pilot project, in which the possibilities of treating 4 diseases were tested, all cardiological diseases will be treated under the KSK.

Qualification of centers for the cardiology network and competitions for KPO funds. When?

- As soon as the act is passed by the Parliament and signed by the President, we want to immediately start qualifying the centers for the KSK. We hope that it will be still June 2025 - said Deputy Minister Marek Kos.

The draft law on the National Cardiology Network implements the reform assumptions that are included in the National Reconstruction Plan (KPO). This is one of the milestones of the KPO, the fulfillment of which is a condition for the allocation of EU funds for the modernization of cardiology departments and the purchase of equipment.

There is very little time to implement investments from EU funds - as emphasised by the MPs - because they must be settled by the end of June 2026.

- Therefore, it is very important to quickly implement this act - said Deputy Minister Marek Kos, asking the Sejm to pass the act on the National Cardiology Network.

PLN 2.5 billion will be allocated to cardiology from the National Reconstruction Plan.

- These will be funds available to units of any level, including district hospitals, if they meet the competition requirements. As for the launch of EU funds, we plan that it will be in June and that the competition will be announced immediately after the act enters into force - announced Deputy Minister Marek Kos.

- However, we are planning some workshops on how to prepare for these competitions for this month, May - said the deputy minister, noting that the dates of the competitions can be set provided that the legislation of the act is completed soon.

He stated that the first assessment of the National Cardiology Network is to take place after a year of its operation, i.e. after 2026. He admitted, however, that for the e-KOK card to function properly, its implementation must take time. Hence - as he explained - the target date for its implementation indicated in the draft act is January 1, 2028, i.e. in 2.5 years.

Referring to questions about the introduction of quality indicators for cardiology care, the Deputy Minister said that they will soon be specified in a regulation.

- The regulation is being prepared. These indicators will include, among others, treatment effects, length of hospitalization, standardization of treatment, coordination of care - he said. He added that the act introduces financing mechanisms based on the quality of care. Where quality defined by indicators is achieved, the National Health Fund will apply correction coefficients, rewarding the facility for the quality of services.

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