THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIPS THE BULGARIAN NATIONAL PATIENTS ORGANIZATION

Speaker: Mr. Silvi Gavrilov Deputy Chairperson of NPO

The National Patients Organization

Membership
The largest umbrella organization - over 80 patient organizations

BG Network
MoH, HIF, Parliament, regulators, etc.

Aim
To protect the rights and interests of patients and to advocate for better healthcare

EU Network
EPF, EFPIA, IAPO, ELPA, WHO, WHA

Status Nationally represented organization working for the benefit of patients in Bulgaria

Administration Administration
Office based in Sofia with expert dedicated team

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

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

The Role of Society and Patients in Bulgaria

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 social and economic burden Protection of public fund expenditures by monitoring their lawful allocation

Mechanisms for Patients Influence and Involvement

Source of patients expertise and experiences from within the healthcare environment Expert opinion on various health bills

Involvement in work groups under the health authorities

Elaborating and organizing various public case findings on socially significant diseases

Monitoring the transparency and effectiveness of the healthcare system

Elaborating and organizing joint actions with stakeholders and health authorities

GOOD PRACTICES FROM BULGARIA

First Conference on Healthcare Inequalities in the New EU Member States, 20-21 September 2012
Topic: Politicians and patients - together for change Organized 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

Survey Among Patient Leaders from the New EU Member States and Acceding States

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

Conference on Health Inequalities in the European Parliament, Brussels

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)

June 26, 2013

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

COLLABORATION FUNDAMENTAL PART IN DEVELOPING QUALITY HEALTHCARE STANDARDS

Opportunities for collaboration with stakeholders

Informal cooperation By founding legal entities (organizations/associations/etc.) who work for changing the public attitudes and influencing health authorities to amend deficiencies in health legislation 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

Opportunities for Collaboration with Health Authorities and Institutions

Formal cooperation By direct participation of patient leaders in the work of the authorities and institutions as consultants

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

Opportunities for Collaboration with Political Leaders

Formal cooperation By organizing meetings, forums, press conferences and public events where healthcare issues are put for discussion Example: Public debate on healthcare April 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.

Ongoing Cooperation with Other Patient Organizations

Open to collaboration with regional and international patients organizations The Secretariat regularly consults with the membership on strategic changes in national or regional legislation impacting the patient communities The NPO membership is actively being engaged to work collectively on critical issues for the patient communities, like: pricing schemes, access to treatment, medicines, etc.

Ongoing Cooperation with the Media

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 National Health Insurance Fund

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 the patient network

Ongoing Cooperation with Commission for Protection of Competition We provide legal review and advice on matters concerning medical affairs, most notably: Administrative regulations by the institutions The NPO delivers its stance from the patients position in accordance with the current legislation on competition, healthcare legislation and discrimination of patients health rights.

Our motto is

BETTER LIFE THROUGH COLLABORATION!