Manned additives

Senators approved experiment on single-channel healthcare financing

Yesterday, the Federation Council approved amendments to the budget of the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund for 2008. The need to make changes just two months before the end of the year arose due to the fact that there was a surplus of funds in the accounts of the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund, which simply did not have time to be spent on a pilot project to transfer the healthcare system to predominantly single-channel financing. In the first six months of 2008, 19 regions participating in the financial experiment were unable to fully fulfill the conditions set by the federal fund, promising to allocate additional funds. 400 million rubles remained unspent, which the senators decided to use to extend pilot projects until the end of the second half of the year.

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy and Health Evgeny Trofimov announced this decision to his colleagues yesterday after the plenary meeting. He emphasized that when making a decision, the senators took into account the social importance of the experiment aimed at improving the quality of healthcare services and focused on the final result. “This decision did not come as a surprise to anyone and is completely justified,” the FFOMS press service told Vremya Novostei. Indeed, a few days before the decision was made, the head of the commission of the upper house of parliament for interaction with the Accounts Chamber, Sergei Ivanov, spoke in the media and spoke about the positive aspects of single-channel financing. “This will allow the state’s public obligations regarding healthcare to be implemented according to a uniform standard throughout the country,” Mr. Ivanov said.

Based on the results of the pilot project in the healthcare sector, standard solutions will be developed for the modernization of the entire domestic healthcare system, which is especially valuable in light of the upcoming increase in funding for the compulsory medical insurance system. After the unified social tax is replaced by insurance payments from January 2010, FFOMS revenues should increase by more than 1.5 times. And medical expenses in general have doubled. This, according to the FFOMS, will allow medical institutions to reimburse the cost of insurance services at the so-called full rate, that is, to cover all expenses at market prices. Such a system will make it possible to attract commercial clinics to the field of mass healthcare and create a competitive environment.

Galina PAPERNAYA