The Catalan Health Service (Salut) is proposing financial incentives for primary care centers (CAPs) that shorten the duration of sick leave.

BarcelonaA portion of the budget for Primary Care Centers (CAPs) will be contingent on the duration of sick leave. The Catalan Health Department has begun informing healthcare centers that there will be financial incentives if they manage to prevent excessively long periods of sick leave due to mental health issues and musculoskeletal injuries. Thus, CAPs will receive additional funding if they avoid undiagnosed sick leave and delays in appointments to assess individuals on leave and, if they have recovered, to discharge them. According to SER Catalunya and confirmed by sources within the Health Department, these bonuses will not affect the base budget each center receives for its regular operations, but they will determine whether or not it receives additional funding. The goal of the regional health department, led by Olga Pané, is "to avoid sick leave without a diagnosis and delays in appointments," since currently "many people are on sick leave for months because the tests [requiring medical clearance] take too long." If the tests are faster, the regional government argues, diagnosis and treatment can begin sooner, and sick leave "lasts as long as it should." They maintain that it is necessary to avoid "waiting five months for a diagnosis, as already happens in some cases of non-urgent conditions." The department emphasizes that temporary incapacity is due to a health problem and is treated as such, therefore reference indicators are established, as in any other activity, but always under medical judgment.

They also point out that the optimal durations of sick leave are determined by Social Security, according to medical criteria and official tables, and that the autonomous communities sign an agreement with the National Social Security Institute (INSS), which sets the general objectives. Salut has emphasized that there are pilot programs underway to improve care for patients on temporary disability leave, which are voluntary and do not carry any penalty in the funding of Primary Care Centers (CAPs).

"Employers' association advisor"

Last week, the Catalan Health Minister, Olga Pané, clashed with CUP deputy Laure Vega over posters the department displayed in primary healthcare centers (CAPs) urging citizens to use sick leave responsibly. According to Pané, Catalonia has the second-highest number of sick leave claims among Spain's autonomous communities, five points higher than the Basque Country and fifteen points higher than Madrid, with half of those claims taken by people between 16 and 24 years old. "The lowest number of claims corresponds to people over 55, so you'll understand that as Minister, I'm concerned about the health of our citizens. If these figures are accurate, we have a very serious health problem," Pané added. Vega, on the other hand, accused the department of "blackmailing family doctors" into issuing medical discharges and claimed that there are up to seven times more people going to work sick than fraudulent sick leave claims. "You're not the Minister of Health, you're the Minister for employers," the CUP deputy concluded. Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Doctors of Catalonia union, Xavier Lleonart, lamented in statements to ARA that the current department is "absolutely focused on economics" and that the Minister "treats the healthcare system like a sausage factory."