The results of the international conference "Viable Healthcare: Corporate Social Responsibility"

On April 23, 2014, the international conference "Viable Healthcare: Corporate Social Responsibility" took place within the framework of the interactive discussion platform "Viable Healthcare". The event took place in the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. The Conference addressed the public policy of organizing and funding healthcare at various industries of national economy. It focused on the high priority models for optimizing expenses of public and private companies on medical services for the working population.

The first session "State policy of organizing and funding healthcare at the enterprises of different industries of national economy" was opened by the Deputy Minister of Healthcare of the Russian Federation Sergei Kraevoi. He underlined the importance of conducting such events on a regular basis in order to improve the healthcare system. "Establishing the structure of authorities that control the work on providing medical assistance to the working population is one of the important objectives that our department has to accomplish" said the speaker, marking the topic. He also reported that, the issue of resuming the activity of the Federal Occupational Pathology Center and creating the national register for people, suffering from occupational diseases. "Such a register is necessary for obtaining the reliable data on occupational diseases, determining the patterns of their contraction and development, the formulation of managerial solutions regarding the preventive measures and rehabilitation", Sergey Kraevoi explained.

Sergei Kovalev, the First Deputy Head of the Business Administration of the President of the Russian Federation in his speech addressed the history of development of occupational medicine and underlined that the model of social security that was established in the USSR is still in existence today. Its main feature is the domination of the public social security institutions that almost completely blocks the development of the market institution of social insurance." The special accent was made on the necessity to efficiently implement the norms of the Federal Law No. 125-FZ as of July 24, 1998, "On the mandatory social insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases" in order to provide social security in this sector. A lot of attention was given to modern information technologies, that should be used in medical institutions not only in a form of "electronic patient record" but also as an instrument of management, that would make it possible to establish the monitoring of the main parameters of financial and economic activity and forecast the dynamics of these parameters during the future periods. Besides, the main issues of implementing electronic payment systems (internet acquiring) used to remotely order medical services were detected, and the prospects of creating endowment funds of non-profit organizations and supporting their function in relation to medical institutions were reviewed.

The conference was continued by Valeriy Sergienko, the Chair of the Committee for Entrepreneurship in Healthcare and Medical Industry of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation that made an official welcoming speech on behalf of the Head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Sergei Katyrin. In his report, the speaker defined the necessity to legally recognize the liabilities of the employer. He said, that there should not be any latitudes and tax exemptions for responsible employers; on the contrary, there should be penalties for those of them, who is not paying enough attention to providing medical services to employees.

Talking to the audience, the Director of the Federal State Budget-Funded Institution Medical and Preventive Treatment Facility "Scientific Clinical Center of Miners' Health Protection" Vagram Agadzhanyan determined the main issue that occupational medicine faces today at the industrial enterprises: the sub-legislative regulatory acts that twist the norms of the Federal Law No. 125-FZ as of July 24, 1998, "On the mandatory social insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases" in regard to paying for the highly technological medical assistance immediately after the serious industrial accident occurred and patients are brought to the hospital by means of ambulance aviation, that made it impossible to use this type of medical service in multisystem trauma cases. "It significantly decreased the quality and the possibilities for treatment," Vagram Agadzhanyan said.The speaker also shared his practical experience in providing medical treatment for miners.

The Expert Adviser on Health and Work of the Department of Health of the United Kingdom Carol Black in her speech drew attention to the importance of not only physical but also a mental health of working population. "It is necessary to improve the self-esteem of workers; people should not be subjected to violence and social isolation. We must teach managers of all levels to treat their employees attentively." Using the Olympic construction in Great Britain as an example, she spoke of strict standards that construction companies are obliged to meet and regular health examinations for workers.

The speech of Gary Howe, Partner, Global Health Executive and Head of Healthcare for United Kingdom and Ireland at EY, was devoted to the issues of decreasing expenses and providing sustainable development of medical institutions. He spoke of the healthcare system of Netherlands, where tactical planning and business-like techniques are implemented: "Every doctor gets certain resources from the hospital and if he is not using them fully, then he is deprived of part of these resources."

The practices, used by the occupational health services of the international companies of oil industry were presented by the Chair of the Non-profit partnership "National Occupational Medicine Society" Eduard Gevorkyan.

The topic for the second session was the "Models for optimizing the costs of industrial enterprises on rendering services to the working population". The report on implementing the norms of the Federal Law No. 125-FZ as of July 24, 1998, "On the mandatory social insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases" was made by Igor Baranovskiy, theHead of the Department for Occupational Risks Insurance of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation. "On one hand, the Fund is ready to pay, on the other – we cannot do that because of the numerous legislative barriers, including those that were created entirely as a result of the sub-legislative regulatory acts," he noted. Special attention was given to the necessity of paying for all the categories of occupational traumas, and not only for the consequences of the "serious accidents", for which there is no payment provided by the Fund of Social Insurance of the Russian Federation.

Irina Smirnova, the Project Manager of the Department of Financial Modelling and Business Valuation at EY, spoke of the main tendencies in healthcare organization and efficient use of funds. "We have to develop a system of indicators that would make us sure that healthcare can be efficient for both external and internal users," she underlined.

The Director of the Institute for Health Economics at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics Larisa Popovich, reminded the participants of the Conference that investing in healthcare in terms of macroeconomics is profitable not only for the state, but for the business as well. Airat Khabibov, the Deputy Director for Personnel and Administration (Health Protection and Labour Medicine) of the Siberian Cole Energy Company (SUEK) spoke of the programs of health protection that are implemented in the organization, mostly about the programs on controlling and monitoring working conditions, preventing diseases and traumas. The Head of Corporate Communications of Pharmaceutical Division at Johnson & Johnson LLC Aleksei Shavenzov made a report on developing and implementing corporate programs of supporting healthy lifestyle of employees.

The Deputy Head of the Directorate for Bank Card Marketing Development and Organization of the Bank Cards and Retail Electronic Services Department at CJSC "Gazprombank Asset Management" Andrei Lychagin defined the main challenge that the Russian healthcare has to face today – to provide a long and active life for all the members of society.

Lyudmila Tarasova, the Head of Occupational Pathology Center of the Federal State Institution Clinical Hospital of the Business Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, has spotlighted the main issues of conduction expert work on establishing the correlation between disease and occupation, presented a list of necessary measures for restoring a fully functional occupational pathology service in Russia, including the creation of expert council under the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation.

In conclusion, the moderators pointed out at the fact that, a number of suggestions brought up at the Conference, will be submitted for consideration to the relevant federal executive authorities.

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Discussion participants:

Sergei Kraevoi, the Deputy Minister of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, Sergei Kovalev, the First Deputy Head of the Business Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, Valeriy Sergienko, the Chair of the Committee for Entrepreneurship in Healthcare and Medical Industry of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Vagram Agadzhanyan, the Director of the Federal State Budget-Funded Institution Medical and Preventive Treatment Facility "Scientific Clinical Center of Miners' Health Protection", Carol Black, the Expert Adviser on Health and Work of the Department of Health of United Kingdom, Gary Howe, Partner, Global Health Executive and Head of Healthcare for the United Kingdom and Ireland, EY, the representatives of relevant federal departments, heads of medical and educational institutions, leading experts in the field of healthcare.

The moderators of the Conference were: Tatyana Maleva the Director of Social Analysis and Forecasting Institute at the RANEPA, Sergei Kovalev, the First Deputy Head of the Business Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, Sergei Grigoriev, the Director for Relations and Communications and the President of the Fund of Social-Economic Support of Regions "SUEK FOR REGIONS" at JSC SUEK, Elena Yashina, the Chief Physician of the Federal State Institution Clinical Hospital of the Business Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.