Selected factors determining outsourcing of basic operations in healthcare entities in Poland.

Background: In light of insufficient financial resources allocated to the functioning of the health care system in Poland, healthcare entities undertake several restructuring measures aimed at cost reduction, improvement of effectiveness and optimisation of operations. One of the elements of this restructuring is outsourcing.

Objective: The objective of the study is to determine the significance of selected factors determining the outsourcing of basic operations in healthcare entities in Poland.

Methods: The research tool was the authors' questionnaire. The study was conducted at healthcare entities using the CAWI method in 2018. The outsourcing of laboratory diagnostics, diagnostic imaging and medical personnel was examined.

Results: Out of 750 healthcare entities, 241 outsource medical personnel, 484 outsource laboratory diagnostics, 445 outsource imaging diagnostics. The use of outsourcing primarily results from the excessively high cost of maintaining own employees, the desire to gain access to the top-quality knowledge and technology as well as the need for financial savings.

Conclusions: The scale of outsourcing of medical personnel may be greater than it results from the obtained study results. Excessively high costs of maintaining own employees as the most important reason for using outsourcing is a consequence of high personnel costs occurring in the case of establishing cooperation on the basis of an employment relationship.