Hospital District to run a private hospital
The Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa – HUS – will found a corporation to produce private health care services. The HUS Council made the decision on Wednesday, October 19th, with a large majority of the 62 councillors voting for the motion and only seven voting against it.
The new corporation will care for self-paying patients, those covered by insurance companies, foreign nationals, and patients using service coupons. The corporation rents facilities and equipment from HUS at market prices and uses them at times when they are not in use by HUS.
“Our primary goal is to make our personnel committed,” Administrative Chief of HUS, Lasse Lehtonen, explains the background to the new private health care provider inside HUS. “We’re seeking to stop specialists from moving away from the public sector to the private sector.” Lehtonen was a member of the team that prepared the founding of the new corporation.
The corporation is expected to begin operations in 2012. HUS is seeking a CEO and will appoint a board. HUS holds the majority of shares and invests 75 percent of share capital totalling one million euro. Personnel cannot own shares.
The new hospital is named Hyks Oy, after the Finnish acronym HYKS which stands for HUCS Helsinki University Central Hospital.
