Government spokesman Adam Szłapka said on Tuesday the measure would enable the state-run Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System (AOTMiT) to gather information on the total earnings of individual medical professionals using their PESEL identification numbers.
The data would help authorities better calculate the costs of healthcare services and improve management of the healthcare system, Szłapka told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the proposal was prompted in part by reports that a doctor still undergoing specialist training earned around PLN 1.6 million (EUR 380,000, USD 440,000) last year.
"Information about earnings approaching PLN 2 million for doctors without specialist qualifications is certainly troubling," Tusk told ministers before the meeting.
He said access to reliable information on salaries across the healthcare system would also serve the interests of doctors and patients.
"Any irregularities, any signals that something raises serious moral, legal or organisational concerns, must be addressed as quickly as possible," Tusk said.
At the moment, hospitals and clinics provide the AOTMiT with anonymised salary data, preventing the agency from determining the total income earned by individual doctors working under multiple contracts.
The legislation would allow salary information to be linked to both PESEL numbers and professional medical licences.
The doctor at the centre of the controversy worked, among other places, at Warsaw's Południowy Hospital, state news agency PAP reported.
The facility is being investigated by the National Health Fund (NFZ), which finances Poland's public healthcare system, and Warsaw city authorities following media reports about his earnings.
The National Health Fund said its inspection includes verification of staffing requirements in the hospital's emergency department.
The doctor, who also serves as a local councillor in Warsaw's Ursus district, resigned from the governing Civic Coalition (KO) party on Monday, according to party officials.
Separately, the Polish Chamber of Physicians (NIL) said it had asked the profession's disciplinary authorities to investigate allegations that the doctor may have left medical shifts to appear in media interviews and attend parliamentary events.
"If confirmed, that would constitute professional misconduct," chamber spokesman Jakub Kosikowski told the PAP news agency.
Poland’s health ministry said last month it was analyzing measures that would limit payroll costs to 60 to 70 percent of a hospital’s budget.
Health Minister Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda said that in some hospitals wage costs were higher than the institution’s total available funding.
Many doctors in Poland work under contracts rather than standard employment contracts, which gives them more room to negotiate pay, especially in sought-after specialties.
Łukasz Jankowski, head of the Polish Chamber of Physicians, has said that doctors with about six years of experience who work on contracts earn an average of PLN 20,000 to 30,000 gross a month.
He said around 600 doctors in Poland earn more than PLN 100,000 (EUR 23,500, USD 27,250) gross a month.
Jankowski said the highest-paid doctors are usually specialists in short supply, who can demand high rates because hospitals need them to keep services running.
According to the agency, linking pay data to individual doctors would help assess actual working time and workloads among medical staff employed in multiple places. It would also help detect possible abuses, including unlawful employment practices, and identify staff shortages in specific regions or specialties.
Hospital representatives have warned that the planned limits could be difficult to achieve. Facilities are legally required to raise pay for medical staff each year, while they have limited influence over the prices paid for publicly funded treatment by the National Health Fund.
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Source: IAR, PAP