In the Seimas Health Affairs Committee (SRK), information was presented for the first quarter of 2026 from the Ministry of Health and the State Health Insurance Fund regarding the financial situation of healthcare institutions and the payment of over-contractual services.
“Comparing 2025 and the first quarter of this year, it is seen that the volume of some services continues to increase. Among the most frequently provided services, we see that the demand for nursing and supportive care services remains high. The provision of expensive tests, inpatient rehabilitation, and day surgery services also increased. In certain service groups, a decrease is observed – these are initial medical rehabilitation and specialized outpatient services,” said VLK Deputy Director Tatjana Golubajeva.
According to T. Golubajeva, the number of consultations by radiologists, endoscopists, and other specialists decreased the most in certain areas.
40.6 million euros for over-contractual services
Speaking about contract execution and over-contractual services, T. Golubajeva stated that according to the approved payment procedure, subject to financial possibilities, healthcare institutions should be paid 40.6 million euros – 26.7 million euros to public and 13.9 million euros to private institutions.
“It can be said that the majority of services are provided without exceeding contract volumes. Overall, contracts are exceeded by slightly more than 5%, and their non-fulfillment is about 2%. Thus, the total excess of funds allocated to institutions this year is about 3%,” said the VLK Deputy Director.
According to her, 40.6 million euros is the amount that would be paid to healthcare institutions according to the established payment procedure, given financial possibilities and appropriate decisions.
“On Monday, the Minister of Health signed an order regarding the allocation of reserve funds. Exactly 40.6 million euros will be allocated to pay for over-contractual services provided during the first quarter of 2026,” explained T. Golubajeva.
Financial situation of hospitals
The VLK representative also presented the financial situation of healthcare institutions, including funds to be paid for provided over-contractual services.
“Evaluating the overall financial results of healthcare institutions for the first quarter of 2026, it is seen that public institutions will generally have a positive result – a surplus of 8.1 million euros, including planned payments,” she said.
Although the overall result is positive, the situation of individual institutions varies greatly. Ninety-nine institutions have a positive financial result, while 64 have a negative one.
Ninety-nine institutions have a positive financial result, while 64 have a negative one.
VLK also presented the best and worst performing healthcare institutions.
Among the three university hospitals, the best financial results were demonstrated by the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics, with a surplus of 5.5 million euros.
“It is very pleasing that Santaros Clinics managed to organize their finances and finish the first quarter positively. Meanwhile, Klaipėda University Hospital continues to face financial difficulties – its result is a loss of 1.8 million euros. In our opinion, this is influenced by relatively high wages, which differ from other healthcare institutions in the Klaipėda region and the country. High salaries complicate the financial situation of this institution,” said T. Golubajeva.
Among the leaders – Vilnius and Kaunas hospitals
Evaluating republican hospitals, the financial leader is the Republican Vilnius University Hospital, with a surplus of 1.6 million euros. In second place is LSMU Kaunas Hospital with a surplus of 1.5 million euros, and third is Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital, which earned 113 thousand euros.
“The largest loss – about 800 thousand euros – was recorded at Palanga Rehabilitation Hospital. However, this institution is characterized by high seasonality. In summer, the volume of service provision increases significantly, so the final annual result may be quite different,” explained the VLK representative.
About half a million euros deficit is also recorded by the Republican Šiauliai Hospital, and Klaipėda Republican Hospital ended the first quarter with a deficit of more than 300 thousand euros.
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“Most institutions maintain a financial result close to zero. This is not bad, but the situation of regional hospitals is worse – their overall result is negative and amounts to a loss of 1.4 million euros. Positive results, considering additional payments, were achieved by Jonavos, Radviliškis, Ukmergė, and Šilutė hospitals, while losses of about half a million euros are recorded in Alytus and Utena hospitals,” commented T. Golubajeva.
Results of district hospitals – uneven
Reviewing district hospitals, the VLK Deputy Director said that overall they ended the first quarter with a surplus of 200 thousand euros, but about half of them operated at a loss.
High salaries complicate the financial situation of this institution.
“The largest positive results were achieved by Raseiniai, Pasvalys, Druskininkai, and Vilkaviškis hospitals. Meanwhile, losses were recorded in Jurbarkas, Kelmė, Kretinga, and M. Marcinkevičius hospitals,” she said.
Santaros pleases, Klaipėda worries
The Chancellor of the Ministry of Health, Evaldas Raistenskis, said he is especially pleased with the results of Santaros Clinics, but the situation at Klaipėda University Hospital still causes concern.
“Klaipėda definitely deserves a separate discussion. There is competition among institutions, salaries ‘move’ from one institution to another, which encourages their constant growth. Separate solutions will be needed to address this problem, which we will undertake. We hope for better results,” said E. Raistenskis.
The Chair of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee, Lina Korsakė, pointed out that the problems are relevant not only to Klaipėda but to the entire Western Lithuania region.
Nevertheless, E. Raistenskis emphasized that the region’s situation is mainly determined by Klaipėda University Hospital.
“Since it is the largest player in the region, this institution sets the salary level. Other hospitals are forced to compete for specialists, increase salaries, which pushes them into losses,” said the ministry chancellor.
L. Korsakė disagreed with this assessment. In her opinion, losses could also have been caused by the hospital merger process. The politician reminded that the Ministry of Health is tasked with monitoring the financial situation of Klaipėda and Šiauliai hospitals, as the financial results of these institutions still reflect problems from previous years.
VLK head: the system faces funding limits
VLK head Gytis Bendorius reminded that it is difficult to predict service volumes exactly when planning health system funding.
“Institutions exceeded contracts by 5.5%, and 2.1% were not fulfilled. Considering the overall volume of services, this is quite accurate planning. It can be said that 97% was planned correctly, and the rest are natural fluctuations,” he said.
However, according to G. Bendorius, even small percentage deviations turn into significant amounts.
“Just in the first quarter, the amount of over-contractual services reaches 40 million euros. The financial situation remains tense, and the fund is not increasing. We all know that the health system in Lithuania is underfunded.
On the other hand, we must also talk about the appropriateness of services. Just as we evaluate medicines by their therapeutic benefit, we should evaluate services as well. If we cannot finance everything, we must decide which services create the greatest value for patients and should be financed first,” said the VLK head.
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