The Slovenian Parliament adopted the Healthcare Quality Assurance Act on 22 November 2024. This is the first law centred on quality of care in Slovenia. The act defines the roles and responsibilities related to quality assurance, of stakeholders in healthcare, in particular of healthcare provider organizations and professional associations, the Ministry of Health, and the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia. It also codifies into law and enhances many existing processes for quality improvement, such as the system for reporting adverse events.
The law requires the establishment of the Public Agency for Quality in Healthcare as an independent publicly funded body responsible for nationally coordinated activities in the area of quality assurance. The agency will also have responsibilities in the area of health technology assessment, in particular as the competent national authority in the context of the EU Regulation 2021/2282 on health technology assessment.
The Healthcare Quality Assurance Act also requires the presentation in Parliament of the annual report on quality in healthcare to be prepared by the agency and the establishment of a health council as an advisory expert body nominated by the minister of health.