Today, Latvia’s Parliament (Saeima) adopted the Clinical University Hospitals Law, introducing significant changes to the legal status, governance and funding model of Latvia’s clinical university hospitals.
COBALT Partner Edgars Pastars and Senior Associate Alise Artamonova provided legal support to the Development Association of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital in developing the concept for the reform. This included establishing the foundations for the new legal status, governance and funding model, which were subsequently further developed through the legislative process.
We are particularly pleased and proud of our client’s trust in a project whose significance extends far beyond the legal reorganisation of a single institution. This is an important step in the development of Latvia’s healthcare system as a whole.
A key element of the reform is the transition from the current company-based model to a public-law entity model, which more accurately reflects the functions and public responsibilities of clinical university hospitals and brings Latvia’s clinical university hospital system closer to the models commonly adopted across Europe.
“A clinical university hospital is much more than a healthcare provider. Its role is to provide highly specialised treatment while also delivering medical education, training the next generation of specialists, advancing clinical science and research, introducing innovation, and providing methodological leadership across the healthcare system. The integration of healthcare, science and education is at the very heart of a university hospital. The new legal and governance framework should create an environment in which these functions are not viewed in isolation, but operate as an integrated university hospital ecosystem,” explains COBALT Partner Edgars Pastars.
The new legislation provides for a transition to the legal form of a derived public entity and lays the foundations for a more stable funding and governance model aligned with the hospitals’ public functions.
The COBALT team is proud to have contributed to a project that aims to strengthen the role of clinical university hospitals in Latvia’s healthcare, research and medical education over the long term.
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