Palliative care providers oppose Latvia’s six-month funding model

Mobile palliative care providers have criticised a new state funding model that they say could make it financially disadvantageous to care for patients who live longer than six months, LSM reported.

The model proposed by Latvia’s National Health Service would provide an average payment of 2,883 euros per patient for up to six months, with an additional payment if care is needed for longer.

Compared with the current system, the proposed changes would reduce payments by about 65 percent, according to Kristians Dāvis, head of palliative care provider Rūre.

“We work very well, people receive a high-quality service and live longer, and for that we are being punished,” Dāvis said.

The National Health Service said providers’ average costs vary significantly, from about 3,000 euros per patient to as much as 5,500 euros. It said this was the reason for proposing a change to the funding model.

Under the current system, providers are paid a daily rate. The new system would instead use case-based payments based on an average cost per patient.

Jūlija Voropejeva, a project manager for healthcare services at the National Health Service, said some chronic patients no longer need palliative care after six months and may instead require rehabilitation or social services. Their need for palliative care would therefore have to be reassessed by a medical commission.

In 2025, the National Health Service proposed ending palliative care funding when a patient lived beyond the 180-day life expectancy set by a medical commission. That decision was later withdrawn.