Promoting Poland's Healthcare

Coordination as responsibility, not a post. The Healthcare Poland Foundation co-founds the Association of Coordinated Care Employers

Posted by:

Fundacja Healthcare Poland

On:

24-09-2026

On 24 September 2026 the Healthcare Poland Foundation signed, together with employers from across the whole chain of care, the founding act of the Association of Coordinated Care Employers (ZPOK). The Foundation is a founding employer of the Association and the operator of its programmes.

The signing took place during the 11th Healthcare Manager Academy (AMOZ XI) in Warsaw. The Founding Assembly adopted the statute and appointed the Founding Committee: Prof. Jarosław J. Fedorowski, Zbigniew Torbus, Michał P. Dybowski, Daniel Nowocin and Sławomir Nawrocki. The Foundation was represented by Michał P. Dybowski, co-founder and managing head of the Healthcare Poland Foundation. The Committee is filing for entry of the Association in the National Court Register within the statutory 30 days.

One voice for the whole chain of careLinks represented in ZPOK (§ 7 of the Statute)

Primary careSpecialist careHospitalRehabilitationLong-term careHome and social care

Until now employers’ organisations have represented single links. Yet the patient’s pathway breaks at the interfaces between them — after discharge, on the way to rehabilitation, to long-term care and home.

Thesis

The Polish system equates coordination with the person of the coordinator. A coordinator, however, works inside one facility and loses their tools the moment the next stage of treatment is delivered by someone else. In coordinated care that moment is the rule. ZPOK adopts a broader definition: coordination is the verifiable capacity to maintain the continuity of the patient’s pathway regardless of which entity, payer and jurisdiction delivers its next stage — measured by the readiness of the resource over time, not by the presence of a person.

The moral dimension

A declaration of availability that nobody verifies shifts the cost of uncertainty onto the patient — the one who waits without knowing what they are waiting for. Justice in a health system begins by moving that cost to where the capacity to bear it lies: to the institution that knows its own schedule. The Association rests on the principles of transparency, proportionality, responsibility and solidarity — in the spirit of Just Culture: a system error is information to be fixed, not a reason for defence.

What the Foundation contributes

READINESS 24/7The Resource Map method (resource, staff, material, time, data, settlement, cross-border pathway) and the Resource Card, owned by the entity. The programme is neither an audit nor a ranking.

Secretariat and methodologySupport for the Association’s bodies, preparation of positions and analytical work.

Quality and auditQuality certification based on the TQAMS standard, reaching beyond the walls of the facility.

Digital continuity and connectivityCybersecurity (CyberC4HE coalition), interoperability towards the EHDS and redundant connectivity of healthcare providers.

The Foundation also brings international benchmarking — comparisons with 56 health systems in the Global Healthcare Systems Hub network.

Founding employers

Stołeczne Centrum Opiekuńczo-Lecznicze Centrum MedyczneCMP

Seniumsp. z o.o.

Founding Committee: Prof. Jarosław J. Fedorowski · Zbigniew Torbus · Michał P. Dybowski · Daniel Nowocin · Sławomir Nawrocki

Join the AssociationWe invite employers from every link of the chain — primary care, specialist care, hospitals, rehabilitation, long-term, home and social care — and supporting partners. The membership fee will be set after the first meeting of the Association’s bodies (§ 24 and § 30 of the Statute).

Accession declaration → ZPOK Statute

The detailed case for founding the Association, based on GUS, NIK, NFZ and OECD data: Why the Association of Coordinated Care Employers had to be founded: an analysis of data and sources.

Media contact: global@healthcarepoland.pl · tel. +48 787 000 827