Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors. Slovak healthcare underwent major reforms during the period 1998-2006, including deregulation and decentralization of healthcare providers. Reforms produced discrepancies in pay and working conditions across university hospitals, smaller public hospitals, public care homes and private healthcare providers, which remains the main challenge in the sector together with migration and labour shortages. Social partners address the above challenges in multi-employer and single-employer bargaining. Despite relevant collectively agreed wage increases in the past five years, trade unions and smaller healthcare providers continue in their efforts to decrease the pay gap and labour shortages of nurses and care personnel. 1. Key developments and trends in the health care sector 1.1 Please provide information on key trends in health care policy While healthcare reforms between 1998-2006 aimed at liberalisation, competition, and strengthened legal framework for private healthcare provision, the majority of healthcare is still publicly provided. According to 2009 OECD Statistics, the public share of total expenditure on health reached 89.4% in 2000 and declined to 66.8% in 2007. The growing number of private providers specializes in selected health services, i.e., one-day surgery, medical services outside the hospital subsector, and care homes for elderly.
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