REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
This article is part of the Research TopicFrom Simulation to Implementation: Policy Tools and Practice Evaluation for One HealthView all 3 articles
Legal and Systemic Implications of the 2023 Polish Act on Certain Medical Professions - Regulation, Workforce Requirements, Healthcare System Impact
Provisionally accepted
Jolanta Agnieszka Pacian1*
Marlena Jolanta Piekut2- 11. Department of Medical and Pharmaceutical Law Department of Psychosocial Aspects of Medicine Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
- 2College of Economics and Social Sciences Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
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Background: In August 2023, Poland enacted the Act on Certain Medical Professions, introducing binding legal requirements for fifteen previously unregulated health professions. The Act mandates continuous professional development (CPD) and registration in the Central Register of Persons Authorized to Practice a Medical Profession. Its primary aim is to enhance legal accountability, standardize qualifications, and improve healthcare quality and safety. Objective: The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the 2023 Act on Certain Medical Professions, including an analysis of the effectiveness of its legal provisions in strengthening professional accountability and patient safety, as well as an evaluation of its potential economic implications for the healthcare system. Methods: Employing a normative-descriptive approach, the study conducts a legal and policy analysis and includes a comparative overview of similar regulatory models in selected EU countries. Results: The Act formalizes these professions and introduces significant legal and organizational duties. While it may result in short-term costs—such as those related to ICT systems, registration, and CPD—it offers long-term benefits through improved care quality, reduced medical errors, and enhanced patient trust. Conclusions: The Act marks a major reform in Polish healthcare regulation. Despite higher compliance demands, it strengthens professional standards and system efficiency. Future empirical studies should examine its long-term impact.
Keywords: Healthcare regulation, medical professions, Professional Development, health law, Poland, Patient Safety, Health systems governance, healthcare economics
Received: 04 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pacian and Piekut. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jolanta Agnieszka Pacian, jolapacian@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.