198th regular session of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia

SLOVENIA, April 16 - The Government adopted the Decree on the programmes of services under compulsory health insurance, the capacities required for their implementation, and the scope of funding for 2026. The Decree for 2026 comprehensively regulates the planning, valuation, financing and implementation of compulsory health insurance programmes, as well as the relations between healthcare providers and the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS). The key objective of the Decree is to improve access to healthcare services and ensure a more realistic valuation of providers’ work. To this end, it introduces targeted improvements in areas where needs are greatest.

For 2026, the Decree improves the financing of several programmes, including palliative care, where the operation of mobile teams for adults and care for children is being upgraded, screening programmes ZORA and SVIT, and the ZDAJ programme for children, adolescents and students, while also strengthening mental health services and early childhood intervention. An important part of the Decree is the expansion of programmes. The number of teams in family medicine, paediatrics and gynaecology is being increased, while additional capacities are also being ensured in emergency medical services and mental health centres.

At the secondary level, capacities are being expanded in programmes for which the Ministry of Health has provided diagnostic equipment or premises, including MRI, non-acute hospital care, angiography and robotic procedures. The Decree also introduces, for the first time, the financing of clinical nutrition as an independent specialist activity, with a clearly defined set of services and prices. In addition, supervised healthcare treatment is being introduced in secure wards of social care institutions for patients who no longer require hospitalisation but still need professional supervision. The Decree also introduces changes in the payment for first specialist examinations, providing additional incentives for providers who exceed the planned number of such examinations.

The Government granted the Municipality of Novo mesto consent to prepare a detailed municipal spatial plan within the area of the national spatial plan adopted by the Decree on the location plan for the Hrastje–Lešnica motorway section. The Municipality of Novo mesto is preparing a detailed municipal spatial plan (OPPN) for a spatial arrangement of joint national and local importance for a high-power charging park in Novo mesto. In planning the OPPN, the municipality partly encroaches on the area covered by the valid national spatial plan for the Hrastje–Lešnica motorway section, for which it must obtain the Government’s consent in accordance with the applicable legislation. The Government finds that the proposed spatial arrangements of local importance are consistent with the spatial arrangements subject to the national spatial plan and that the conditions for granting consent to the initiative of the Municipality of Novo mesto are therefore fulfilled.