the power of partnerships - the bulgarian national patients' organization

7/27/2019 The Power of Partnerships - The Bulgarian National Patients' Organization

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Speaker: Mr. Silvi Gavrilov

Deputy Chairperson of NPO

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS

THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL PATIENTS ORGANIZATION


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Administration

AimTo protect the

rights and interests

of patients and to

advocate for better

healthcare

Membership

The largest umbrella

organization - over 80

patient organizations

BG Network

MoH, HIF, Parliament,

regulators, etc.

EU Network

EPF, EFPIA, IAPO,

ELPA, WHO, WHA

Administration

Office based in Sofia with

expert dedicated team

The National Patients Organization

Status

Nationally represented

organization working for

the benefit of patients in

Bulgaria


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Organizational Capacity

Active Steering Committee (7 patient organizations leaders)

Engaged experts doctors, advocates, lawyers, PR experts

Expert administrative staff

Close collaboration with members and regional

representatives

Quick response to submitted queries from patients and

members

Elaboration and establishment of a Youth Group of the NPO


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Success Stories

Annual Patients Congress (since 2011)

Health Inequalities Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria (2012) and follow-up

event in the EU Parliament (2013)

Recognized by MoH as a nationally represented patients organization

and involved in all workgroups deliberating legislation on healthcare

including pricing schemes and healthcare budget

Involved with the National Assemblys Commission on healthcare

Voting on every legislative act and law being proposed for hearing

before the National Assembly


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To raise awareness of and demand transparency and accountability in the

healthcare system;

Providing the patients perspective the

patients point of view is unique as it comes

from personal experience and exhibits ones

understanding of their illness, their socialand economic burden

Protection of public fund expenditures by

monitoring their lawful allocation

The Role of Society and Patients in Bulgaria


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Source of patients expertise andexperiences from within the

healthcare environment

Involvement in work groupsunder the health authorities

Monitoring the transparencyand effectiveness of the

healthcare system

Expert opinion on various healthbills

Elaborating and organizingvarious public case findings on

socially significant diseases

Elaborating and organizing jointactions with stakeholders and

health authorities

Mechanisms for Patients Influence and Involvement


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GOOD PRACTICES FROM BULGARIA


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Topic: Politicians and patients - together for changeOrganized in collaboration with the European Patients Forum and under the

patronage of the Bulgarian minister of healthcare and MEP Dr. Andrey Kovatchev

162 delegates participated among whom:

Health ministers (Bulgaria, Croatia)

Politicians (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia)

Patients organizations representatives

Official representatives of EU institutions

Members of European Parliament

Outcomes

A Resolution was adopted by all participants at the event

Analytical study on healthcare deficiencies was elaborated and targeted to patient

leaders from 15 EU Member States

Preliminary discussion was made for a follow-up event in the European Parliament

First Conference on Healthcare Inequalities in the

New EU Member States, 20-21 September 2012


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Nearly 300 patient leaders took part in the study

Inequalities in healthcare systems are being recorded, as

well as good practices and opportunities for sharing

experience

Results are presented at a policy meeting in the European

Parliament on 26 June, 2013

Survey Among Patient Leaders from the New EU

Member States and Acceding States


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Topic: Inequalities in healthcare systems in the new EU Member States.Equity of access to quality healthcare.

Under the patronage of MEP Dr. Andrey Kovatchev, in cooperation with the

European Patients Forum (EPF)

Presented at the event:

Results stemming from the First Conference, held in Sofia in 2012

Results of the study conducted among patient leaders

Best practices from the European region

The vision of the EU institutions for battling health inequalities

June 26, 2013

Conference on Health Inequalities in the

European Parliament, Brussels


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COLLABORATION

FUNDAMENTAL PART IN DEVELOPING

QUALITY HEALTHCARE STANDARDS


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Example:

Public council on healthcare informal entity,

comprised by stakeholders in the

healthcare sector: Bulgarian Doctors

Union, Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union,Bulgarian Association of Healthcare

Professionals, Bulgarian Dentists Union,

nationally representative patient

organizations, others

Informal cooperationBy founding legal entities (organizations/associations/etc.) who

work for changing the public attitudes and influencing health

authorities to amend deficiencies in health legislation

Opportunities for collaboration with stakeholders


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Examples where patient leaders engage with

state authorities:

Advisory Board of the NHIF which develops

the annual budget for health care

Commission for medical treatment abroad

Advisory Board under the Ministry of

finance

Working groups under the MoH

Working groups under the Healthcare

Commission of the National Assembly

Formal cooperation

By direct participation of patient leaders in the work of the

authorities and institutions as consultants

Opportunities for Collaboration with Health

Authorities and Institutions


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Example:

Public debate on healthcareApril 23rd, 2013

Participants in the event were leading healthcare stakeholders as well

as political representatives of GERB, BSP, ADP, ATAKA, and DSB

Political parties presented their work plans on state healthcare for the

next mandate.

Formal cooperationBy organizing meetings, forums, press conferences and public

events where healthcare issues are put for discussion

Opportunities for Collaboration with Political

Leaders


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Ongoing Cooperation with Other Patient Organizations

Open to collaboration with regional and internationalpatients organizations

The Secretariat regularly consults with the membership on

strategic changes in national or regional legislation impacting

the patient communitiesThe NPO membership is actively being engaged to work

collectively on critical issues for the

patient communities, like: pricing

schemes, access to treatment,

medicines, etc.


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NPO is well recognized by national media who are always invited to

provide coverage of media and public events

The Secretariat maintains a list of journalists specialized in medical

affairs who provide the most coherent coverage

External communication takes onto several media vehicles,

including: press releases, newsletters, popular social network

channels, TV and radio interviews, newspaper editorials and other

Ongoing Cooperation with the Media


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Recognized as a nationally representative patient

organization

Representative of the NPO in the Supervisory

Board of the NHIF

Voting on legislation developed by the NHIF

Regular requests for consultations submitted by

the NHIF

NPO receives most recent amendments in

legislation quickly and distributes them over thepatient network

Ongoing Cooperation with the National Health Insurance

Fund


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We provide legal review and advice on matters concerningmedical affairs, most notably:

Administrative regulations by the institutions

The NPO delivers its stance from the patients position inaccordance with the current legislation on competition,

healthcare legislation and discrimination of patients health

rights.

Ongoing Cooperation with Commission for Protection of

Competition


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BETTER LIFE THROUGHCOLLABORATION!

Our motto is

the power of partnerships - the bulgarian national patients' organization

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