site.btaHealth Minister: Mayors of Small Settlements to Be Authorized to Buy Medicine for Ill Residents Through Fingerprint Identification

Health Minister: Mayors of Small Settlements to Be Authorized to Buy Medicine for Ill Residents Through Fingerprint Identification

Sofia, January 27 (BTA) - The mayors of small settlements will be authorized to buy medicinal products for ill residents through fingerprint identification, Healthcare Minister Peter Moskov said in an interview for BTA.

In October 2015, Health Minister Moskov announced that the Health Ministry is taking steps to introduce biometric identification for patients when admitted in hospital or purchasing drugs through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), as a means to counter violations. In December 2015, the Health Ministry launched a public procurement procedure for the elaboration of the fingerprint identification system. On January 26, the NHIF announced that the Stemo Gama Consult Consortium and Kontrax AD have received the necessary documents to participate in the procedure.

Moskov told BTA that the new system will not generate a photo of the patient fingerprint but a unique personal code based on the fingerprint. It is this code, and not the fingerprint, that connects to the citizen's personal identification number, he explained.

He went on to say that everyone can purchase medicinal products for their children, parents and grandparents. In small settlements, the mayor can be authorized by the system to get the drugs covered by the NHIF for the elderly residents.
   
There will be a trial period during which the fingerprint identification system will be introduced in certain places. The goal is to fully introduce the system in hospitals and pharmacies by the end of 2016, Moskov specified.

Moskov also commented on several other current topics concerning the healthcare system.

He told BTA that the bidding procedures for medicinal products through the new electronic platform begin in February. Hospitals are expected to save up to 20 per cent of the resources for drugs that used to be paid before, Moskov added.

He denied the risk of municipal hospitals going bankrupt because of the new criteria under which the NHIF will conclude contracts with certain hospitals. In his words, medical treatment facilities should provide a complex quality service.

The introduction of ID card readers for patients' hospitalization and de-hospitalization has led to a reduction in the number of hospitalzations and the saving of 1.6 million leva in the first month after the readers' introduction, Moskov went on to say. In his words, many factors are changing the way hospitalizations take place, such as the increased control by the NHIF and the clear attitude of the State towards hospitals' management, which used to hospitalize not always with consideration for  the patient's needs or actually existing patients, but rather from the point of view of the medical treatment facility's revenues.

Fraud with this type of documents is nearly 5 per cent on an European scale, while in Bulgaria it reaches 12 to 13 per cent, or even 15 per cent according to some analysts.
The introduction of fingerprint identification is aimed at bringing such fraud to the average European level - around 5 per cent, Moskov said. "This is fraud with our money which was not given for treatment when it could have been," he added.

As of 2016, the payment of health insurance contributions is done for five years back. The last months of 2015 saw an increase in the number of the people who paid their overdue contributions and returned to the healthcare system. The NHIF received around 57 million leva of additional resources on the basis of this campaign, which led to an increase in the number of regular payers, Moskov said. According to data of the National Revenue Agency, non-insured persons totalled around 250,000 at the time when the changes in the information campaign were initiated. These data do not include those Bulgarians who live abroad.

This year the State has increased two-fold its financial commitment to the treatment of children abroad, Moskov told BTA. However, there is a series of serious problems in terms of accountability. At the administrative level, this operational leadership of the Fund for the Treatment of Children Abroad is not capable of providing a clear connection with the NHIF about what is treated in Bulgaria and what is not, and when the S2 form for treatment abroad should be issued, he argued. There is clear data on the improper spending of the fund's financial resources, the Health Minister said but refused to comment on the details, noting that the entire case file is currently at the prosecuting magistracy. "The State plays financial gymnastics so as to guarantee financially the treatment of children. I guarantee that the entire financial resource for the treatment of children abroad has been provided and will be provided, but we should all be sure that the money is really used for the children's treatment," Moskov noted.