The Health Care Commission approved Prof. Momchil Mavrov as Deputy Director of the NHIF

The Parliamentary Committee on Health Care listened to the only candidate for the deputy director of the NHIF, Prof. Momchil Mavrov. On the basis of the hearing, the commission proposes a draft decision for the election of Prof. Mavrov as Deputy Director of the NHIF. Prof. Mavrov’s candidacy was nominated by the GERB-SDS parliamentary group.

Prof. Mavrov has over 10 years of experience in the health care system and in the field of health care management, in the management of the NHIF as the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the institution, in the management of the hospital “St. Georgi” – Plovdiv as deputy director for administrative and economic affairs, he was also head of the office of the Minister of Health, stated in the reasons for raising the candidacy.

Prof. Mavrov completed his higher education with a Master’s degree in law at Plovdiv University “Paisiy Hilendarski” in 2000. He has a Master’s degree in finance from the Academy of Economics “D. A. Tsenov” – Svishtov, and a master’s degree in health management at the Medical University – Plovdiv. In 2016, he defended his dissertation for the scientific degree “Doctor of Law”. In 2023, he acquired the academic title of “Professor” in the field of law at the Medical University – Sofia. Prof. Mavrov was also the head of the political office of the Minister of Health.

I accept the nomination as a cause and in the service of society, I will rely on the good interaction with the manager of the NHIF, on good interaction and work with all political parties, with the institutions and organizations in the industry, said Prof. Mavrov during his hearing. According to him, the NHIF faces a number of problems – the need to integrate the information system of the NHIF with the National Health Information System, improvement of information security and control, the lack of technical possibility for automated analysis of the risks of abuse, insufficiency of methodological assistance to the providers of outpatient medical assistance, as well as to dental care doctors, the synchronization of the activities of pharmacies, the need to optimize the legal framework.

The law on health insurance has been changed more than 130 times, which testifies to the numerous problems in the regulated relations and to uncertainty in the content of the law, he pointed out. It is necessary to optimize the expenses in the budget of the NHIF, which can be achieved by improving the control over them, Prof. Mavrov also said. According to him, it is necessary to improve access to medical care and medicines for the population in hard-to-reach and remote areas. Solving these problems is possible only with the joint efforts of the NHIF and the parliamentary parties, added Prof. Mavrov. According to him, the more important current tasks for the management of the NHIF are related to arguing the draft Law on the NHIF budget for 2024, monitoring, reporting and closing the 2023 budget year, as well as deciding on the use of funds from the treasury reserve . It is necessary to complete the process of negotiating with pharmacists on the terms and conditions of concluding contracts, to complete the process of negotiating discounts with drug marketing authorization holders, to upgrade the information system of the NHIF in relation to the control of drug verification codes and etc.

The most essential and the most important thing for the whole system, according to Prof. Mavrov, is its electronicization, as well as the integration of information systems. According to him, it is extremely important to ensure automated data entry in order to start implementing continuous control over all activities. Patients also need to control, because they are most interested in not abusing their health status and the resource, Prof. Mavrov also said in response to a question from Dr. Alexander Simidchiev, what is most important to him in the first month, if assumed the position of “deputy director” of the National Health Insurance Fund.

If the pre-hospital care is more effective, there will not be a need for so many resources in the hospital care, but it must be seen whether the pre-hospital is ready to take on such an activity, said Prof. Mavrov to a question by Dr. Jevdet Chakarov, related to the disparities in the allocation of funds. According to Prof. Mavrov, the Ministry of Health should think about reforms in pre-hospital care, to create more medical centers in hard-to-reach areas, as well as round-the-clock medical centers.

The allocation of the NHIF reserve should remain within the competences of the Supervisory Board of the Fund, Prof. Mavrov also said, clarifying that this is his personal opinion in response to a question by Prof. Kostadin Angelov. This does not mean that if the deputies take the other view, I will not comply with it, he added. In response to a question about what he proposes for medical institutions that cannot reach the basic salaries laid down in the Collective Labor Agreement, specified in the National Framework Agreement, Prof. Mavrov said that the law must be implemented, but if they cannot reach them , a formula must be found to help. According to him, this help cannot be provided through state subsidies. I have not faced this problem, now I am learning about it, he added.

The NHIF cannot intervene, regulate and control the remuneration issues of hospital management, as they are commercial companies registered under the Commercial Law, Prof. Mavrov said in response to a question from Margarita Gencheva whether remuneration of directors of state hospitals within of BGN 60-120 thousand are misuse of public funds. My opinion as an expert is that the NHIF has no right to interfere in solving these issues, these are issues of the owners of the medical facilities – state, municipalities, private owners – individuals or legal entities, Prof. Mavrov added.

The groups of “Vazrazhdane” and “There is such a people” expressed the opinion that the position of deputy director of the National Health Insurance Fund should not be an elective position.