Although the number of debtors is increasing, their total debt is decreasing. According to data from the National Debt Register, private medical offices owe 170.5 million PLN, which means a decrease of 12 million PLN over the last seven months. A significant advantage of the industry remains the high payment credibility at the level of 98 percent. To increase competitive advantages, doctors continuously invest in modern equipment and training. However, the credit or leasing obligations incurred for this purpose often prove to be too burdensome.
The biggest challenge of private health care – whether it’s large nationwide networks or smaller private medical practices – is medical inflation. The cost of running a business in the health care sector is growing very quickly. Last year, the overall inflation rate was 3.7 percent, while doctors running their own practices had to face inflation of around 15-16 percent. Apart from the rising costs of rent and energy, expenditure on specialist equipment and medical materials need to be considered. Despite these challenges, the private medical services sector not only reduced its debt but also maintained high payment credibility.
The latest KRD data show that in the last seven months, the debt of private medical facilities decreased from PLN 182 million to PLN 170.5 million. This reduction in industry indebtedness may be a result of increased prices for medical services. KRD’s payment credibility analysis confirms that the sector is characterized by high financial reliability. As many as 98 percent of entities show a low probability of insolvency and cooperation with them does not pose a risk. However, this is where the good news ends.
“In the past seven months, the number of new debtors has increased. Already 3105 entities from this sector have difficulty paying their obligations on time. The average debt per medical facility is almost PLN 55,000. More than 70 percent of all debtors from this industry are sole proprietorships. Their total overdue obligations amount to PLN 129 million. To a large extent, this is due to the need for small offices to compete with large nationwide health care networks, which offer comprehensive services in one place across many medical fields. Additionally, these large networks gain popularity through offering medical packages, a desired non-wage benefit among company employees,” explains Adam Łącki, President of the Management Board of the National Debt Register Bureau of Economic Information.
The majority of Private medical entities’ debts have been taken over by secondary creditors, who have to recover as much as PLN 80.3 million. Over PLN 69 million is owed by doctors to financial institutions (banks, leasing companies, insurance companies, etc.). Almost PLN 6 million must be recovered by trade companies, PLN 5 million by mobile operators, and PLN 2.5 million by property managers.
“Entrepreneurs in the medical industry continuously invest in specialist equipment and training. New technologies often determine competitive advantages in this sector, as they directly affect the quality of diagnostics and procedures. To equip their own office, doctors or physiotherapists use loans or leasing. However, micro-enterprises and sole proprietorships, which cannot count on support from banks, choose factoring, mainly silent and in advance. In this way, they finance smaller corporate expenses, usually up to PLN 10,000, for a period up to 2 months. This short-term financing is safer in terms of liquidity and works in the case of current needs and purchases of second-hand equipment or devices,” says Emanuel Nowak, an expert from the factoring company NFG.
The companies with the highest debt are from the Mazowieckie voivodship, which have a total debt of PLN 47.3 million. They are followed by offices located in Silesia, which owe PLN 20.7 million. The podium of the most indebted regions is completed by Wielkopolska with a debt of PLN 14.9 million. Meanwhile, the least indebted entities are companies operating in the Opolskie (PLN 2.3 million) and Świętokrzyskie (PLN 2.6 million) voivodships.
Private medical practices also have their debtors, who owe them more than PLN 7.4 million. Of this, PLN 3.4 million belongs to consumers who have debts to private specialist practices, dental offices, therapy and rehabilitation centers, and even stem cell banks. The remaining PLN 4 million is overdue company obligations, including PLN 1.1 million which constitutes mutual debts of the industry.
Source: https://managerplus.pl/dlugi-prywatnych-gabinetow-lekarskich-maleja-ale-liczba-dluznikow-rosnie-56648
