OREANDA-NEWS. April 06, 2009. Aiming to assist the development of the German-Russian relations, the companies Allianz SE and OJSC IC ROSNO have arranged a visit by the experts from the RF Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development and the State University — Higher School of Economics by the RF Government to Techniker Krankenkasse, the largest German sick-fund taking active part in formulation of ideology for reforms in the country’s obligatory medical insurance system, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

The German sick-funds are analogous to the insurance companies in the OMI system of the Russian Federation. The tasks facing the German sick-funds and the Russian medical insurance companies coincide in many respects: supplying insurants with high-quality medical and medicinal aid, helping them to choose between medical institutions, setting up an effective disease prevention system, delivering necessary information to insurants, and constantly cooperating with doctors to improve the quality of medical aid.

That said, the German OMI system has been operating for over 100 years, covering over 70 million people. At the same time, people with income above certain level can afford entering the private insurance system. It covers 8.5 million people. The system is funded both by the employers and the employees themselves. Today, Germany is planning to carry out the significant OMI reforms, in order to improve the quality of services in the public sector of the healthcare system.

The Russian delegation consisted of the leading experts traditionally contributing to the discussion and formulation of solutions for the purpose of improving the Russian healthcare system. The seminars and discussions in this field have been regularly arranged by ROSNO under the auspices of the Higher School of Economics for more than a year.

The purpose of the visit is to develop the Russian-German relations and exchange the experience gained in organizing the efficient public healthcare system, build an international arrangement for discussion of the two countries’ common healthcare issues and their possible solutions.

In this delegation, ROSNO Group was represented by Ms. Olga Stepennova, Deputy CEO and Member of the Board of OJSC IC ROSNO in charge for the medical insurance business, and Ms. Larisa Popovich, First Deputy CEO/COO of OJSC ROSNO-MS.

During the visit, the delegation members were told about the organization of the German obligatory medical insurance system, and about the issues and prospects of the healthcare reform. In addition, they were demonstrated the achievements of the Techniker Krankenkasse in informing insurants and protecting their rights.

The members of the Russian delegation were also acquainted with the drug provision system, methods of payment for outpatient and hospital treatment, organization of collective decision-making on the healthcare issues utilized by the doctors’ and pharmaceutics’ associations, and methods for measuring satisfaction of the general public with medical aid.

All participants concluded that it is necessary to expand interaction between the countries in the field of public healthcare, and expressed firm belief that this constructive exchange of expertise has to be continued.