The National Federation of Doctors (FNAM) is calling for the repeal of legislation that changed financial incentives for family doctors in health centers and rules that could increase the number of users per doctor.
In its statement, FNAM said it had met with the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine (APMGF) “to discuss common concerns about the future of the National Health Service (SNS) regarding the functioning of health centers.” New family health facility (USF) and community health unit (ULS) legislation took effect at the beginning of the year.
FNAM wants this law repealed in favor of “preserving the autonomy of primary health care” and “new solutions that elevate the SNS.”
The trade union structure claims that the new methodology for calculating remuneration bonuses “makes doctors uncomfortable in their clinical practice, since it calls into question the quality of care provided, as well as the scientific and technical independence of specialists, contrary to ethical and social principles of justice.” “.
The financial incentive measure, called the team performance index, now takes into account drug prescriptions and additional diagnostic tests.
FNAM also criticizes the new User Complexity Index, which could lead to user lists per family doctor “that are already too large” being able to “grow even further.”
“This tool, questionable from an ethical and social point of view, assumes that there are users on the family doctor’s list who weigh less than one or even a “zero user”, using characteristics such as gender, nationality, economic status, the design of which is detrimental to humanity . Therefore, “If the User Complexity Index (ICU) is applied, the availability of family doctors will worsen,” the federation warns.
Finally, the federation of trade unions believes that the new ULS came into force “without any strategic vision” and “compromising the autonomy of the USF”, as well as the preventive vision of medicine, which is now focused on hospitals and diseases.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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