OREANDA-NEWS. July 30, 2008. With support from the World Bank, ROSNO-МS and the Higher School of Economics have arranged a roundtable discussion on the topic "Increasing Efficiency of Healthcare Investments: Role of Medical Standards". The seminar was presided by the First Pro-Rector of the High School of Economics, Mr. L. Yakobson, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

The major attention during the discussion was paid to the issues related to the Russian healthcare reform and improvement of medical service quality. Also the discussion touched upon the international experience in the development and application of medical standards. The reports were delivered by the experts from the United Kingdom and the U.S., invited by the World Bank.

Among the discussion participants was the director of the Kursk branch of ROSNO-MS Mr. Igor Kolomiets, invited by the World Bank. In his speech he clearly reflected the entire range of current issues in the application of the existing medical standards. "Unfortunately, the existing standards provide no effective leverage in control of quality of the provided medical services", stated Mr. I. Kolomiets. "To remedy this situation we need to carry out local work in order to connect the standards to the objective factors affecting the ways our healthcare system operates".

It was also emphasized that to increase efficiency of the sectoral use of resources we have to determine maximum duration of the patient’s stay in a medical institution in case of the hospital treatment. "When developing medical standards, we must not forget to adjust them in accordance with characteristics of municipal budgets, and to take account of the real needs of the general public in certain types and volumes of medical services", noted Mr. I. Kolomiets.

The speech delivered by the representative of ROSNO-MS in the Kursk Region has drawn a brisk discussion, once again evidencing urgency of this issue. The participants took interest in the materials presented by the company’s expert. Having duly appreciated the considerable expertise accumulated by the Kursk Region with regard to control of quality of the provided medical aid, representatives of the Higher School of Economics proposed further cooperation.

In the opinion of the Roundtable participants, the discussion of the issue of using medical standards at all medical aid stages must be transferred to the regional level, using the positive experience of the Kursk Region in terms of integration and standardization of the healthcare quality control system.

Among the roundtable discussion participants were: Chairman of the Public Chamber’s Healthcare Commission Mr. L.M. Roshal, Chairman of the Section for social issues of Russian public healthcare of the Federation Council Mr. V.V. Omelyanovsky, Executive Director of FFOMC D. Reichard, Assistant Minister of Healthcare and Social Development  V. A. Zelensky, Head of the Division for restructuring of the social services sector of the RF Ministry of Economic Development Mr. V.M. Donin, Deputy Director of the Budget Policy Department of the RF Ministry of Finance L. A. Bout, and representatives of the World Health Organization, Roszdravnadzor, heads of the major insurance companies, scientific and medical institutions, and independent experts.