A Reflection On The Wave Of Amalgamations In The Romanian Health Sector

In the context of New Public Management (NPM) and good governance, in the last decade the Romanian public health system has undergone a reform process. One of its consequences is the wave of public hospitals amalgamations that have occurred especially since the adoption of the new health law. Thus, in 2011 the Ministry of Health has made public a list of proposed amalgamations of hospitals (around 25% from total hospitals with beds that existed in that period). The aim of this research is to examine the wave of hospital mergers that occurred in Romania between 2011 and 2012. In particular, the study focuses on the drivers, social impact, typology and purpose of the analysed amalgamations. The study uses primary resources documents and it is based on a content analysis of 25 Government Decisions and Substantiation Notes from 2011 to 2012. An important generalization of the paper is that all the amalgamations from the analysed period are involuntary and are selected on territorial criteria and depending on the distance, the specific health services for the purpose of efficient use of human and material resources in order to enhance public health services. Additionally, the expected social impact of these events is materialized mainly in improving the quality of medical services provided to the population and providing unconditional access to medical services for policyholders. The expected changes include: reduction of staff costs; efficient use of public services; classifying the amalgamated hospitals in a higher category; reduction of management positions; optimizing medical activity in terms of economic efficiency; and achieving a management capable of the best use of existing financial resources.