Hospital reform: Ministry announces reclassification of healthcare facilities into three categories by the end of the year

Health Minister Alexandru Rogobete announced that by the end of 2025, hospitals in Romania will be reclassified into three categories, in a broad process of modernizing the healthcare system. The official stressed that the measure does not imply the closure of any medical facility, but only a reorganization according to updated performance criteria and complexity of the services offered. "Don't get it wrong. Reclassifying or reorganizing hospitals does not mean closing them. It means reclassifying them on other levels: category I hospitals, category II hospitals and category III hospitals. Now we have five categories. The deadline - by the end of this year,” Minister Rogobete declared at the Health Innovation Forum, an event organized by the Romanian Association of International Medicines Manufacturers (ARPIM). The reorganization and reclassification process was officially launched three weeks ago, the minister said, with the introduction of a new category - strategic hospitals, through an act published in the Official Gazette. "The evaluation has begun at the level of all healthcare units, and those that meet the established criteria will be included in this special category. It is absurd that in 2025 hospitals will still be organized according to a Soviet model, which only takes into account the number of beds, without taking into account patients, the complexity of cases or the medical procedures performed,” explained Rogobete. The minister said that the new classification system will take into account real performance indicators, such as the degree of addressability of the hospital, the volume of cases, infrastructure, human resources and the capacity to treat complex conditions. The reform aims to create a clear hierarchy of hospitals, for better targeting of financing and to increase the quality of medical services. "There is a need for a profound modernization of the way our hospital system operates. We cannot continue with outdated structures and norms designed half a century ago," the Minister of Health also said. The reclassification of hospitals will also be accompanied by an analysis of regional needs, so that the healthcare network is adapted to current demographic and epidemiological realities. The Health Innovation Forum, where the Minister made these statements, brought together representatives of the authorities, the pharmaceutical industry and patient organizations, with the main theme being Romanians' access to innovative therapies and Romania's integration into European trends in the modernization of the medical system.