Who cares about "My Health"? Interest may be lower than we expect

• In the program "My health - adult health assessment" the target group will include about 30 million people. This creates opportunities for a significant impact on improving public health in our country - say representatives of the Zielona Góra Agreement Federation
• Healthy adults aged 20-45 rarely visit doctors and undergo tests even less often, the expert points out, undermining optimistic forecasts regarding participation in the program
• AOTMiT estimated the potential enrolment in the “Moje zdrowie” service at 11% in the first year, with an upward trend in the following years.

- Unlike the previous program, which assumed participation in the tests of people over 40 years of age, in the program "My health - adult health assessment" the target group will increase by 20 age groups and will include plus or minus 30 million people - says Andrzej Zapaśnik , an expert of the Zielona Góra Agreement, the creator of the assumptions of coordinated care in primary health care. He points out that the mass media can play a key role in convincing people to participate in the "My health" program.

Zapaśnik is also the manager of the BaltiMed Clinic in Gdańsk, where he introduced his own model for implementing health assessments of adult patients, based on the assumptions of comprehensive prevention developed in 2019 by experts from the Zielona Góra Agreement. As part of this model, the BaltiMed Clinic conducted health assessments of over 2,200 patients. Andrzej Zapaśnik emphasizes that the assumptions and method of implementing prevention in adult patients in his clinic were an inspiration for the work of the team that developed the "My Health" program.

In turn, Tomasz Zieliński , vice-president of the Zielona Góra Agreement, points out (on the website of the PZ Federation - ed.) that thanks to the cooperation of primary healthcare experts and representatives of the Ministry of Health, it was possible to create a program that has the potential to cover millions of people and significantly improve public health in our country.

Dr. Zbigniew J. Król from the Public Health Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Medical University of Wrocław is less optimistic about the number of people who would like to have a health check-up as part of the new program. He claims that directing the offer of tests to people over 20 years of age does not mean expanding the target group, because healthy adults aged 20-45 rarely visit doctors, and even less often undergo tests if they are not ill.

- We have ample evidence of this in the form of summaries of the results of preventive programs addressed to young people around the world and implemented in health facilities. Such programs simply do not bring results. In the case of this group, it makes much more sense to organize screening tests in places where these people frequent. A young person will not come to a clinic, but they can be persuaded to be tested at a university or during a concert. In many countries, this is how it works and it is effective - convinces Zbigniew J. Król.

In an email sent to Rynek Zdrowia, the expert claims that the new preventive program "My Health" will not bring the desired effect, similarly to the previous idea of ​​a health check-up for 40-year-olds. In his opinion, better results are achieved by screening programs directed to specific risk groups, within which specific tests are performed. An example of this would be the colon cancer prevention program or screening mammography for older women, thanks to which it is possible to detect neoplastic changes at an early stage.

Zbigniew J. Król also points out that family doctors, who have a huge role to play in prevention, are often overloaded with work and in some periods of the year (infectious seasons) they simply do not have enough time for prevention.

Experts' positions differ. Let's reach for hard data, real effects and assumed participation rates.

According to the e-Health Center, almost 5 million people have benefited from the "Prevention 40 Plus" program (launched in July 2021) by the end of 2024. To be precise, 4.98 million people received e-referrals, and 4.08 million people were examined. The largest group of people examined were people aged 40 to 65 (21%). Among people over 65, 18% were examined.

Commenting on these data, experts point to the "easy way of obtaining a referral for free preventive tests". They could be arranged via the Internet Patient Account (IKP), through mojeIKP, directly at the facility implementing the program. Despite these facilities, only 4 million of the 20 million eligible people actually took advantage of the program.

The answer to this question can be found in the report of the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System (AOTMiT) of 27 February 2025 on the assessment of the justification for qualifying the “Moje zdrowie” benefit as a guaranteed benefit within the scope of primary health care.

In the chapter (5.3) devoted to the financial consequences for the healthcare system we read that

for the benefit entitled "My health - adult health assessment", a 10-year time horizon was assumed, while the potential enrolment in the benefit was assumed at 11% in the first year, with a year-on-year growth trend, up to 40% in the tenth year. The estimated population will range from approximately 749 thousand to 3.2 million in the tenth year of the programme, with the target population assumed to be people aged 20-99.

Let's compare these numbers with the Central Statistical Office data (as of June 30, 2024), which show that the number of people aged 20 and over, i.e. potential beneficiaries of the program, totaled about 30 million people. The conclusion is obvious: health awareness in society could be higher. Perhaps introducing health education classes in schools will one day change the approach to one's own health.

So the assessments of participation in the program are very cautious, even though "Moje zdrowie" offers more than "Profilaktyka 40 plus". Let us recall that since May this year, it has been possible to use a package of tests that are to contribute to early detection:

• cardiovascular diseases and diabetes,
• kidney diseases,
• thyroid function disorders,
• selected oncological diseases,
• selected infectious diseases (HCV - hepatitis C virus),
• mental and cognitive disorders.

In addition:

1. During the summary visit, your “global cardiovascular risk” will be assessed.
2. People aged 60 and over will be able to have their cognitive functions tested (using the mini-COG scale, which allows for a decision to deepen diagnostics towards dementia).
3. The patient will receive an analysis of laboratory test results and survey results, as well as an Individual Health Plan (IHP). It will include: information on risk factors that were identified during the assessment, recommendations for a healthy lifestyle.
4. The patient will also receive an individual calendar of recommended vaccinations and a list of recommended health interventions, e.g. educational advice, and in the case of patients over fifty - a fecal occult blood test (FIT-OC).

Copyrighted material - reprint rules are specified in the regulations .