Corrigendum - Tenders Are Invited For Strengthening The Capacity Of The Service Purchasing Unit (Spu)

Tenders are invited for Strengthening the Capacity of the Service Purchasing Unit (SPU) at the Palestinian Ministry of Healt Due to insufficient hospital capacity, treatment for most non-communicable diseases (NCD) are referred to non-governmental hospitals, imposing an important financial burden for the Palestinian Authority (PA). NCD often require sustained treatment and continuous access to preventive, curative, and palliative care. Since 2015, almost 90,000 cases per year (23 percent from Gaza and 73 percent from the West Bank) have been referred from public health facilities to private or NGO-run hospitals in the east Jerusalem Hospital Network (EJHN) , the West Bank, Gaza, or Israel, resulting in an average annual financial expenditures of about ILS 850 million (almost US $250 million), equivalent to one-third of annual Palestinian Ministry of Health (PMOH) health expenditures or roughly 1.3 percent of GDP (2022). This is in addition to over US $345 million in cumulative arrears to hospitals for services provided, constituting one of the largest drivers of public sector arrears. Between 2020 and 2022, the top three conditions for these outside medical referrals (OMR) were cancer, cardiovascular conditions, and urological conditions, representing a combined 60 percent of all referral expenditures. The PMOH, through its Services Purchasing Unit (SPU), oversees the medical and financial aspects of the referral process. Claims for OMR are fully managed by the SPU, with the submission of claims by the referral receiving hospitals to the SPU, which conducts a medical and financial audit prior to the reimbursement of hospitals. Despite recent improvements in the digitalization and automation of the claims management process, including the introduction of an OMR-specific information system called eReferrals which allows for electronic submission of referral requests from public hospitals to SPU, the administrative burden associated with the process remains heavy. Tender Link : https://wbgeprocure-rfxnow.worldbank.org/rfxnow/public/advertisement/index.html